Westchester Man Sentenced in $200,000 Medicaid Fraud

Yonkers resident Kurien Palliankal, 48, owner of Carewell Ambulette, Inc., was sentenced in Westchester County Court Wednesday to six months in jail for stealing $200,000 from Medicaid, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced.

Palliankal also was sentenced to five years probation after he serves his jail sentence. The corporation, formerly based in New Rochelle, also must pay a fine of $10,000. Palliankal and Carewell made full restitution to Medicaid prior to sentencing.

“New Yorkers rely on companies and individuals to provide honest and reliable necessary medical services to those who need them,” said Schneiderman in a statement. “This sentence sends the message that those who betray this trust by defrauding Medicaid will be held accountable.”

Both Palliankal and Carewell Ambulette, which provided transportation services to Medicaid recipients throughout Westchester and neighboring counties, pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the Medicaid program “by billing Medicaid for more expensive transportation than was medically necessary.”

Palliankal admitted at the time of his plea that between July 2006 and March 2010, “he submitted false claims to Medicaid indicating that ambulette transportation was necessary for many Medicaid recipients transported by Carewell. In fact, the health care providers only authorized taxi transportation but their requests were altered by Carewell.”

The company’s false claims were four-times higher than taxi service, according to Schneiderman.

The investigation was led by Senior Investigator Frank Bluszcz, Supervising Auditor Investigator Lora Pomponio and Associate Auditor Investigator Melissa Stoebling with the assistance of Supervising Investigator Peter Markiewicz, Deputy Chief Investigator Kenneth Morgan and Regional Chief Auditor John Regan.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General William McClarnon of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Pearl River Regional Office with the assistance of Regional Director Anne Jardine. Thomas O’Hanlon is the Chief of Criminal Investigations – Downstate. The MFCU is led by Acting Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan.