Furious Sunny Hostin breaks silence on claims her surgeon husband is an insurance fraudster

Sunny Hostin is standing by her surgeon husband after he was accused of federal insurance fraud in a bombshell lawsuit.

DailyMail.com was the first to report that Dr. Emmanuel “Manny” Hostin, 54, is one of nearly 200 defendants named in one of the largest civil RICO cases ever filed in New York.

Now, The View co-host has hit back at the insurance company for filing a “frivolous lawsuit” against her partner, labeling it a “desperate attempt to avoid paying for medical and surgical procedures for people who she assures and who were in pain’. she said Page six on Monday.

Dr. Hostin and many others are accused of receiving kickbacks by running operations and fraudulently billing the company, American Transit, which insures taxi companies and Uber and Lyft drivers.

“Hostin knowingly provided fraudulent medical and other health care services, including arthroscopic surgeries,” alleges the lawsuit, which was filed on December 17.

The insurance company was then billed “in exchange for kickbacks and/or other compensation disguised as dividends or other cash payments,” according to the legal filings.

Attorney Mark Geragos, who the couple hired last week to help represent them and their family, sent a letter to American Transit’s legal team on Sunday threatening a $5 million counterclaim if they don’t drop the case and apologize, the outlet reported.

Sunny, who is also an attorney, has warned that the price could rise, noting that $5 million “is an amount that is likely to rise because the reputational damage American Transit has deliberately caused is difficult to quantify at this time.”

Furthermore, 56-year-old Sunny has accused the insurance company of launching a “disgusting media smear campaign against my husband, which also included me and our children.”

Sunny and Dr. Hostin share two children together: son Gabriel Hostin, 22, and Paloma Hostin, 18.

“American Transit is harassing me and my family in a desperate attempt to avoid paying the bills. Our family will not be intimidated or harassed. We remain unbowed,” she added.

Sunny then accused the insurer of “engaging in despicable tactics such as harassing doctors.”

The television host also referenced another lawsuit filed by Uber Technologies against American Transit, as well as an alleged previous investigation by New York State, which claimed the insurance company is “on the brink of bankruptcy.”

“Let me be clear: where I come from, American Transit will get a PhD from FAFO University,” she concluded, as in “F*** around and find out.”

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn charges Dr. Hostin listed as the owner of Hostin Orthopedics, operating from an eighth-floor office on Lexington Avenue, near Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal.

American Transit claims that “rampant” insurance fraud is endemic in New York State thanks to the “No-Fault Law,” which requires insurers to pay up to $50,000 for medical costs for people injured in traffic accidents.

“These substantial potential no-fault recoveries could encourage malicious providers to over-diagnose, over-treat and over-bille to recover the most money for themselves,” American Transit said in a statement.

The law was introduced in 1974 “in the wake of rapidly rising auto insurance costs and when accident victims experienced long delays in receiving compensation,” American Transit says in the lawsuit.

But taxis and car-sharing companies now have to pay up to $200,000 – four times the cover for private drivers.

This has put a target on the back of livery vehicles and the insurance companies that insure them for unsavory individuals looking to benefit from injury payouts.”

“In total, those who abuse the No-Fault Law have amassed hundreds of millions in fraudulent payments, destabilized the livery insurance market in New York City, raised premiums for hard-working taxi and delivery drivers, and harmed the public.”

The insurance company claims that Dr. Hostin was given an “investment interest” in the Empire State Ambulatory Surgery Center in exchange for referring a “steady stream” of patients.

“Empire State ASC regularly made payments to or on behalf of Hostin, which were in effect illegal kickbacks for referrals,” the court papers allege.

As an example, the insurance company claims that in January 2023, Dr. Hostin – who is affiliated with several top hospitals in New York, including Mount Sinai and Lenox Hill – saw two patients involved in “low-impact” collisions that caused “no more than injuries to soft tissue’.

But in either case, Dr. Hostin performed arthroscopic surgery within two months without seeing whether the patients would have recovered with more conservative care.

William Natbony, an attorney for American Transit, told DailyMail.com “Fault without fault is a big problem in New York.

“American Transit has filed a lawsuit as part of its legal responsibility to combat such fraud.

American Transit is seeking more than $450 million in damages in this case.

Dr.’s lawyer Hostin, Daniel Thwaites, previously told DailyMail.com that his client “denies every allegation” and called the lawsuit a “generic, scattered, worthless lawsuit from a nearly bankrupt insurance company.”

“It is intended to intimidate and harass physicians in collecting care for American Transit policyholders and their passengers,” Thwaites said.

He said that Dr. Hostin has an “impeccable” record, adding, “American Transit rushed into the lawsuit without ever investigating Dr. Hostin or expressed any concerns to his lawyers.

“The real story here is about an insurance company abusing the legal system to limit health care benefits to its policyholders and their passengers and write off its own liabilities,” Thwaites said.

Geragos — who recently joined Thwaites in representing the Hostin family — said his letter to American Transit consists of “a scathing 83-page report filed by the New York State Department of Financial Services… detailing dozens of potential financial irregularities and accounting issues at American are explained. Transit.’

Referring to the Uber Technologies lawsuit filed in 2014, he said the insurance company has a “pattern and practice of failing to adhere to reasonable claims handling practices and of failing to reasonably resolve claims and lawsuits on behalf of the insured.”

In response to Sunny Dr.’s countersuit. Hostin said Natbony: “American Transit filed its lawsuit as part of its legal responsibility to combat no-fault fraud that is rampant in New York.

“The allegations in the complaint speak for themselves. With respect to any allegations made by a Defendant of improper conduct by American Transit or its counsel, such allegations are expressly denied as without merit.”