Anthony DeLuca, Accepting Bribes, New Jersey 2023

A New Jersey doctor has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, New Jersey, and its associates.

Anthony DeLuca, 52, of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to an information charging him with one count of accepting bribes.

According to documents filed in this and related cases, DeLuca admitted he accepted bribes in return for referring patient blood specimens to BLS and was paid approximately $1,500 per month by another person in his medical office engaged in the same activity.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced DeLuca to serve one year of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine.

This case is part of a larger investigation that has seen 38 people, including 26 doctors, plead guilty in connection with the bribery scheme, which its organizers have admitted involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies.

The investigation has so far recovered more than $10.5 million to date through forfeiture.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with the ongoing investigation.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/new-jersey-doctor-sentenced-one-year-and-one-day-prison-taking-bribes-test-referral