South Brunswick Doctor Sentenced For Bribery Scheme

A South Brunswick doctor who practices in Jersey City, was sentenced to almost two years in federal prison for accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of an elaborate scheme, authorities said.

Anthony DelPiano, 55, of the Monmouth Junction section of town, was ordered to serve 21 months in federal prison.

Upon completion of that term, DelPiano must serve a year of supervised release. He was also fined $10,000, and as part of his plea agreement, he must forfeit $207,500.

He had previously entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler, sitting in Newark, to one count of accepting bribes.

DelPiano is one of 26 doctors who have entered guilty pleas in connection with the long-running scheme that was operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, its president and numerous associates, according to a news release from Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney in Newark.

The organizers of scheme have admitted it involved millions of dollars in bribes and led to more than $100 million in payments to the Parsippany company from Medicare and various private insurance companies, the news release said.

So far, more than $11 million has been recovered through through forfeiture, authorities said.

According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court:

DelPiano admitted that between October 2005 and March 2013, he took bribes in return for referring patient blood specimens to BLS. He said he was paid about $2,300 per month.

In return for a total of $189,175 in bribes, DelPiano’s referrals generated at least $1.7 million in lab business for that company.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert; IRS–Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates, with their work on the ongoing investigation.

The government was represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Andrew Leven; Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Minish; Jacob T. Elberg, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Ward, Chief of the office’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit.

A total of 38 people have pleaded guilty in connection with the case.