South Brunswick Doctor Admits to Taking Bribes for Blood

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - A Monmouth Junction doctor practicing in Staten Island admitted in federal court Tuesday to taking bribes in connection with a long-running and elaborate test referral scheme, the U.S. Attorney announced.

Ahmed El Soury, 44, of Monmouth Junction, admitted accepting cash bribes in return for referring patient blood specimens to Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services, a Parsippany-based lab service. From March 2011 through April 2013, El Soury received bribes totaling more than $66,000 from BLS employees and associates. In exchange, El Soury’s referrals generated approximately $650,000 in lab business for BLS.

This South Brunswick doctor is one of 30 physicians across New Jersey who have been arrested in the BLS scheme uncovered by federal prosecutors. Doctors have admitted taking millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for referring blood samples to BLS. In return, BLS was paid more than $100 million from Medicare and various private insurance companies. It is believed to be the largest number of medical professionals ever prosecuted in a bribery case.

El Soury is one of five physicians who have been indicted so far: Dr. Brett Ostrager, of Woodbury, New York, was sentenced to 37 months in prison; Dr. Salvatore Conte, of Totowa, NJ, will be sentenced June 6, 2017; Dr. Bernard Greenspan, of River Edge in Bergen County, was indicted on March 14, 2016, convicted and will be sentenced on June 20, 2017 and Dr. Thomas Savino of Staten Island was indicted on Dec. 20, 2016 and is pending trial. Dr. El Soury is facing up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced July 19, 2017.

BLS is no longer operational and was required to forfeit all its assets.