LI Man Gets 2 1/2 Years For Part In Birth Tourism Scheme: Feds

EAST PATCHOGUE, NY — A Long Island man was sentenced to nearly two-and-a-half years in federal prison for his part in a Turkish birth tourism scheme that made it possible for pregnant women to enter the U.S. under false pretenses so that they could give birth and ensure their child's citizenship by birthright, the U.S. Attorney's office said Tuesday.

Ibrahim Aksakal, 49, of East Patchogue pleaded guilty back in October to conspiring to commit health care and wire fraud in connection with a so-called birth tourism scheme in Suffolk County between about 2017 and 2020, according to prosecutors. He was also ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution and agreed to forfeit $397,500 of proceeds linked to his role, prosecutors said.

Aksakal, who goes by the name, "Dennis," and his co-conspirators instructed women to conceal their pregnancies, and they stayed in one of about seven birth houses that he maintained in East Patchogue, Center Moriches, Dix Hills, East Northport, Smithtown, and West Babylon, according to prosecutors. Aksakal and his co-conspirators advertised the scheme on websites, fraudulently obtained Medicaid benefits and lodging and transportation for the pregnant women, and Medicaid disbursed more than $1 million in fraudulently-obtained benefits, prosecutors said.

From at least January 2017 to September 2020, Aksakal and his co-conspirators advertised a birth tourism scheme on two Turkish-language Facebook pages, including bebegimamerikadadogum.org and amerikadadogum.org, said prosecutors, adding, that a Turkish-language website, https://amerikadadogum.org, account, was also used.

Translated into English, "bebegimamerikadadogsun" means "My baby should be born in America," and "amerikadadogum" means "Giving Birth in America, prosecutors said. Some of the defendants' advertisements were translated to say, "If you believe your baby should be born in the USA and become a U.S. citizen then you are at the right place. . . . [W]e at 'Bebegim Amerika Dogsun' . . . will provide future mothers and fathers this opportunity, with minimal costs . . . .," according to prosecutors.

The advertisements also stated that about $7,500 in cash fees paid by pregnant women would include transportation and insurance "to cover the costs of prenatal, delivery and post-natal medical care, assistance with the process for applying for United States citizenship on behalf of children born in connection with the scheme and consultation in Turkish concerning health care issues," prosecutors said.

Back in October, Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General Special Agent-in-Charge Scott Lampert said that when people like Aksakal use the Medicaid program to perpetrate fraud, "they divert precious funding that puts the future availability of Medicaid and other public assistance programs at risk."

"HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively root out fraud schemes and hold criminals accountable," he said.

Aksakal's defense attorney, Matthew Brissenden, told Newsday his client was sujected to physical abuse in Turkey at the hands of his father before coming to the U.S. and did not have any financial support or advanced education.

He later became a small-business owner but his life was "completely destroyed" by the scheme and it was left in "smoldering wreckage," Brissenden told the outlet.