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A doctor in New York City pleaded guilty to participating in a malicious scheme that involved unnecessary surgery on poor and needy patients, some of whom were drug addicts, to defraud insurance companies.
dr. Sady Ribeiro, 72, a pain management physician and surgeon, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a complicated insurance plan that made him millions.
Ribeiro follows Adrian Alexander, 77, as he pleads guilty to the scam.
Alexander owned a lawsuit finance company that also spearheaded the trip-and-fall scheme, which enticed more than 400 homeless and drug-addicted patients into undergoing surgeries they didn’t need, so that the men could get payouts from the insurance companies.
According to a federal indictment, Ribeiro and Alexander headed a comprehensive insurance fraud scheme with participants organizing trip and fall accidents and then filing fraudulent lawsuits that netted both men a $31 million enrichment.
Emergency Medical Technicians help an elderly homeless man off the street and into an ambulance on Canal Street in lower Manhattan
NYC’s Homeless Crisis Has Increased Significantly in Recent Years
Homeless people in New York were targeted by Ribeiro and his colleagues for turning into fraudulent patients into their insurance plan
Ribeiro performed unnecessary surgeries on nearly 200 needy patients
Ribeiro and Alexander recruited patients to perform at New York City venues or falsely claim they had fallen; the accident sites were often in places such as basement doors, potholes and cracks in city sidewalks.
The patients were then referred to specific personal injury attorneys who filed fraudulent lawsuits against the site owners or their insurance companies. The patients were also instructed to receive ongoing medical care and chiropractic treatment from specific medical professionals, including Ribeiro.
The patient-victims were told that in order to proceed with their lawsuits, they would have to undergo unnecessary surgeries, which Ribeiro performed.
The poor patients were usually incentivized to undergo unnecessary back surgeries with payments between $1,000 and $1,500. Patients were generally told to undergo two surgeries.
The legal and medical costs were paid for by the dispute financing service that Alexander owned and managed, which charged patients up to 50% for medical loans and 100% for personal loans.
Due to the incredibly high interest rates, the vast majority of the proceeds from the fraudulent lawsuits went to the deceitful doctors, lawyers and businessmen.
More than 400 desperate individuals were persuaded to become fraudulent patients and Ribeiro performed back surgery and other medical treatments on nearly 200 of them.
To maximize his own financial gain, Ribeiro paid participants additional kickbacks for patient referrals.
The individuals recruited for the significant scam were poor enough to agree to unnecessary surgeries in exchange for the relatively small post-surgery payments.
According to the Justice Department, most patients did not have enough clothes to keep warm in the winter. Their shoes were thin and falling apart. And many of them asked for food when they showed up for their intake interviews with lawyers.
Members of the team that perpetuated the fraud also recruited patients from homeless shelters in the city.
The crimes to which Ribeiro pleaded guilty carry a maximum sentence of 10 years – five for each count. Alexander previously pleaded guilty to just one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Ribeiro also agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 to the US government and make a restitution payment of nearly $4 million.
US attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, where both men have been charged, said: “As alleged, Sady Ribeiro abused his professional license and position of trust by performing medically unnecessary surgeries to reduce the value of fraudulent travel and lawsuits.” fall.
In carrying out the plan, Adrian Alexander, who funded many of the fraudulent lawsuits, Sady Ribeiro, and their co-conspirators hunted the most vulnerable members of society to enrich themselves. Ribeiro and Alexander are now awaiting sentencing for their reprehensible crimes.’
Ribeiro will be sentenced on January 5, 2023 and Alexander on November 30 of this year.
Ribeiro could be sentenced to 10 years for his participation in the scheme that targeted the homeless and defrauded victims and insurance companies in the amount of $31 million