Three Long Islanders Among 13 Indicted In Massive DEA Takedown

Three people from Long Island were among 13 that were indicted in a massive DEA operation code-named Avalanche. Authorities say they were trying to defraud Medicaid and Medicare of millions of dollars, illegally sell prescriptions for opioid painkillers and commit money laundering. Officials say the drug ring sold tens of millions of dollars worth of pills over the years.

Marie Nazaire, 59, of Melville; Reynat Glaz, 43, of Valley Stream; and Paul McClung, 57, of Valley Stream, were the three Long Islanders arrested in the case. They are each charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, grand larceny and fraud.

Doctors Lazar Feygin and Paul McClung, and office managers Konstantin Zeva, Rachel Smolitsky, Vyacheslav Maksakov, and Pavel Krasnou were charged with running three medical clinics in Brooklyn that were engaged in a variety of criminal activity. The clinics allegedly defrauded Medicaid and Medicare by billing for millions of dollars in unnecessary medical tests. To induce patients to submit to these tests, Feygin and McClung, and other medical practitioners in their employment, allegedly illegally provided patients with prescriptions for oxycodone for no legitimate medical purpose.

"Hidden within our city were three pill mills disguised as medical clinics, seven drug dealers disguised as medical practitioners and a multi-million dollar scam defrauding NYC’s healthcare fund," said DEA Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt. "We estimate that these pill mills distributed six million diverted pills, worth $60 to $100 million, into the hands of drug dealers and opioid addicts. This four-year investigation will have a significant impact on the availability of diverted prescription pills which are reported to have been misused by 80 percent of new heroin users.”

It is alleged that the patients would not receive prescriptions for oxycodone unless they submitted to unnecessary procedures which the clinics billed to Medicaid and Medicare. Members of the charged conspiracies also engaged in money laundering to conceal illicit proceeds. As the main alleged architect of these alleged schemes, Feygin enjoyed a lavish lifestyle that included extensive real estate holdings, frequent trips overseas and the regular purchase of luxury goods.

Two indictments filed by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor centered on three medical clinics in Brooklyn, which were charged in addition to the 13 individuals and two corporate entities. The indictments contain a combined 477 counts of fourth-degree conspiracy, criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance, first- and second-degree health care fraud, first- and second-degree grand larceny, petty larceny, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, first-degree falsifying business records, first-, second- and fourth-degree money laundering, scheme to defraud and scheme to defraud by unlawfully selling prescriptions.

“This investigation epitomizes law enforcement collaboration on a common goal," said Port Washington Police Chief James Salerno. "State, local and federal law enforcement agencies worked together to stop the illegal sales of addictive opioid painkillers and other associated criminal activity."

Photo: Toby Talbot/Associated Press