NEWARK, N.J. – Greed and graft in the Garden State. Cardiologist Aiman Hamdan, 50, of Paterson, his wife Kristina Hamdan, 39, and internal medicine physician Yousef Zibdie, 53, both of Wayne, New Jersey, are facing federal charges today for their roles in a long-running bribery scheme orchestrated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS). The trio allegedly accepted kickbacks in exchange for steering patient referrals to the Parsippany-based lab, adding to a growing list of medical professionals caught in this widening net of corruption.
A federal grand jury slapped the Hamdans and Zibdie with a 16-count indictment, charging them with conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Federal Travel Act, and wire fraud, alongside substantive violations of those same laws. They will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler at a later date. The feds allege Aiman Hamdan raked in bribes and perks from BLS between September 2008 and April 2013, including a staggering $500,000 loan and a no-expenses-spared trip to Florida – complete with a private jet and visits to strip clubs – all for sending patients BLS’s way.
The scheme didn’t stop there. Kristina Hamdan allegedly acted as a conduit, funneling bribes to other doctors through a shell entity while simultaneously using it to cover the Hamdans’ personal expenses. Yousef Zibdie, operating out of Woodland Park, was reportedly on Kristina Hamdan’s payroll, generating over $900,000 in lab business for BLS in exchange for the illicit payments. This isn’t an isolated incident. Aiman Hamdan and Zibdie are the fifth and sixth doctors to be indicted in connection with the BLS scheme. Brett Ostrager, Salvatore Conte, and Ahmed El Soury have already pleaded guilty.
The sentencing has begun. Ostrager received 37 months in prison on June 8, 2016, and Judge Chesler is slated to sentence El Soury on July 20, 2017, and Conte on September 20, 2017. Bernard Greenspan, convicted after a trial in March 2017, awaits sentencing before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls on June 20, 2017. The stakes are high for the newly indicted. Aiman Hamdan, Kristina Hamdan, and Zibdie each face a maximum of five years in prison for the Anti-Kickback and Federal Travel Act counts, and up to 20 years for the wire fraud charges. Each count also carries a potential fine of $250,000, or double the profit gained from the scheme.
The investigation, led by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, IRS–Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, has been a long and fruitful one. So far, it has resulted in 45 guilty pleas – 31 from doctors – and recovered over $12 million through forfeiture. BLS itself pleaded guilty on June 28, 2016, and was forced to forfeit all its assets. This scheme, organizers admitted, involved millions in bribes and over $100 million in payments from Medicare and private insurers.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph N. Minish, Danielle Alfonzo Walsman, Jacob T. Elberg, and Barbara Ward are prosecuting the case. This indictment is the latest in a decade-long effort by the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office to crack down on healthcare fraud, a practice they revamped in 2010. The sheer scale of this operation – believed to be the largest number of medical professionals ever prosecuted in a bribery case – underscores the depth of the corruption and the relentless pursuit of justice by federal authorities.
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Key Facts
- State: New Jersey
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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