Iezabel Zeltser, $2.1M Medicare Fraud, New York 2024

Brooklyn, NY – In a shocking case of Medicare fraud, two managers of a Brooklyn medical clinic have been charged with participating in a $2.1 million scheme to defraud the program.

According to the indictment, Iezabel Zeltser, 52, and Rafael Gilkarov, 51, both of Brooklyn, operated Evercare Occupational Therapy LLC, a medical clinic that purported to provide medically necessary occupational therapy services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

The defendants allegedly paid patients to submit themselves to medically unnecessary therapy services provided by unlicensed aides. To conceal the scheme, Zeltser and Gilkarov allegedly used a skeleton crew of licensed occupational therapists to create fake medical charts.

The indictment alleges that the defendants laundered a substantial portion of the proceeds through shell companies, using the cash to enrich themselves and to pay kickbacks to the beneficiaries.

As a result of the scheme, Evercare submitted approximately $2.1 million in fraudulent claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs for services which were not medically necessary or not provided and was paid approximately $1 million on those claims.

The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the HHS-OIG, IRS-CI, and the New York State OMIG, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

This case is part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which has charged over 3,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $11 billion since its inception in March 2007.

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