Long Island Village Attorney -- a Nassau Community College Trustee -- Charged with Medicaid Fraud: Attorney General

A Garden City man, along with a couple from Brooklyn, were arrested and charged on Friday with Medicaid fraud for an alleged scheme in which residents of three-quarter homes were forced to attend drug treatment programs they didn't need.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arrest of attorney Anthony Cornachio, 74, of Garden City, and charges against NRI Group, LLC and Canarsie A.W.A.R.E., Inc., which are Medicaid-enrolled drug treatment programs controlled by Cornachio. The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) also charged three-quarter housing operators Yury Baumblit, 66, and Rimma Baumblit, 60, of Brooklyn, and their company Back on Track Group, Inc.

Cornachio is the village attorney for the Village of Island Park and a trustee of Nassau Community College.

Prosecutors allege that Yury and Rimma Baumblit, in exchange for payments from Cornachio’s companies, forced residents of their “three-quarter” homes to either face eviction or attend NRI and Canarsie regardless of the residents’ actual need for drug treatment services. All of the residences leased by Back on Track Group, Inc. and operated by the Baumblits as three-quarter homes were located in Kings County.

During the course of this scheme, which dates back to at least 2013, Cornachio allegedly paid Back on Track Group, Inc. more $900,000 in illegal kickbacks. As a result of this kickback scheme, prosecutors allege that Cornachio, through NRI and Canarsie, submitted, and caused to be submitted, at least $1.7 million in false claims for reimbursement to Medicaid. These claims, prosecutors allege, were fraudulent because they resulted from illegal kickbacks and were often medically unnecessary.

“Individuals who victimize the most vulnerable New Yorkers should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said Department of Social Service Commissioner Steven Banks. “By forcing residents to submit themselves to medical tests and treatments that in many cases they didn’t even need, these defendants have shown not only a clear intention to defraud Medicaid but also an absolute disregard for human dignity.”

In addition to the arrests, MFCU investigators executed a search warrant at Cornachio’s home in Garden City and filed a False Claims Act and forfeiture complaint against the defendants seeking over $5 million dollars in damages plus penalties.

Three-quarter homes in New York City are private entities that provide housing to indigent, formerly homeless individuals and those transitioning out of periods of incarceration, and are largely funded from each resident’s monthly housing allowance provided by the New York City Human Resources Administration.

Cornachio, NRI and Canarsie have been charged with first degree grand larceny, second degree money laundering and violating a Social Services law which prohibits an enrolled Medicaid provider from paying kickbacks. Similarly, Yury Baumblit and Rimma Baumblit and their corporation, Back on Track Group, Inc. have been charged with first degree grand larceny, second degree money laundering and violating a Social Services law which prohibits individuals from acting in concert with an enrolled Medicaid provider and accepting the payment of kickbacks.

Earlier this year, the Baumblits were indicted for a kickback arrangement they maintained with a different substance abuse treatment program. That indictment, which is currently pending in Kings County Supreme Court, charges them with second degree grand larceny and other crimes; they remain incarcerated awaiting trial on that matter.

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