NJ Doctors Busted In Statewide Bribery Kickback Scheme

Five New Jersey doctors have been busted in a statewide health care-related bribery conspiracy involving dozens of doctors, lawyers and medical facility operators, according to a release from the state Office of Attorney General.

The OAG has announced that a Passaic County chiropractor was charged this week with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks from a medical imaging center in return for referring patients to that facility.

Dr. Ronald P. D’Amato, 43, who owns Atlas Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Center in Clifton, was among several involved in the kickback scheme that also led to recent charges against Kesnold Baptiste, 50, of Roselle; Ata “Danny” Chaudhry, 55, of Paramus; Tariq Din, 48, of Paramus; and Dr. Ronald Hayek, a chiropractor practicing in Totowa.

Chaudhry owns MRNJ Newark, MRNJ Oradell and Hudson Radiology Center of New Jersey, while Din owns Clifton MRI Facility also known as Open MRI of Clifton, according to the OAG release.

D’Amato faces conspiracy, commercial bribery, and running for allegedly accepting money to refer patients to a medical imaging facility owned by an individual who previously pleaded guilty in the scheme, according to Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino.

The charges are the latest to come from the Attorney General’s Commercial Bribery Task Force, which was formed in January 2016 to target commercial bribery in the healthcare industry. The task force includes deputy attorneys general and detectives from the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.

“Our commercial bribery task force is working tirelessly to identify and prosecute every crooked professional responsible for spreading the stain of corruption across New Jersey’s healthcare system,” Porrino said in the release. “Our investigation will continue unabated until we have rooted out everyone who has a dirty hand in this criminal conspiracy to exploit patients for financial gain.”

D’Amato is accused of accused of accepting more than $90,000 in bribes from Din. Din recently pleaded guilty to second-degree charges of conspiracy, money laundering, commercial bribery, and misconduct of a corporate official for paying more than $850,000 combined to more than 15 physicians and other professionals in exchange for referrals to their MRI facilities, according to the release.

Baptiste also is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from Chaudhry and Din. Chaudhry also recently pleaded guilty to second-degree charges of conspiracy, money laundering, commercial bribery, and misconduct of a corporate official for paying more than $850,000 combined to the 15 physicians, according to the OAG.

Hayek recently pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree conspiracy, second-degree money laundering, six counts of commercial bribery, and one count of third degree failure to pay taxes. The second accusation, filed by the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, charged him with one count of third-degree conspiracy.

These investigations stem from two earlier investigations:

• An investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau that led to the indictment in August 2015 of Manoj Patharkar and Mohammed Shamshair on charges that they used hid and laundered approximately $3.6 million in income from the doctor’s pain management clinics to evade taxes, and
• “Operation Rayscam,” an investigation by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor that led to guilty pleas in May 2015 from Rehan Zuberi, his wife and three other defendants in connection with commercial bribes that Zuberi paid to doctors in return for the referral of patients to his medical imaging centers.

“These kickback schemes involving medical professionals harm individual patients, who may be misdiagnosed or receive unnecessary treatments, and they raise costs for all healthcare consumers,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We urge anyone who suspects this type of corrupt activity in the healthcare industry to contact our task force confidentially at 866-TIPS-4CJ.”

In an indictment handed up by a state grand jury on June 8, D'Amato was charged with second-degree conspiracy, second-degree commercial bribery, and third-degree running.

Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $150,000, while third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000.

“There is no room in the healthcare industry for practitioners willing to sell their patients to the highest bidder,” said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Christopher Iu. “Our office is committed to ensuring that the participants in this kickback scheme are held accountable for compromising patient care and corrupting the insurance system to illegally enrich themselves.”

OAG photo