Chiropractor With Nassau Offices Gets Prison In $2.4M Fraud

HICKSVILLE, NY — A chiropractor with offices in Hicksville and West Hempstead has been sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison after prosecutors said he submitted bogus health care claims and received $2.4 million in payments for services he knew were never performed. Raymong Pellegrino, 50, of McKinney, Texas, was sentenced Friday in Central Islip federal court, prosecutors said.

At the hearing, he was ordered to forfeit more than $500,000 and pay back $2.4 million to Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

From December 2013 to September 2014, Pellegrino used the identification numbers of doctors who worked part-time for him to submit phony medical service claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield. The falsely said patients had received services from doctors such as osteopathic manipulation. Pellegrino received more than $2.4 million in payments from Blue Cross/Blue Shield for services he knew were never given.

"Pellegrino abused his chiropractic license by manipulating insurance claims instead of patients' muscles, and now will pay the price for stealing millions of dollars from an insurance company," Richard Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release.