Shanelyn Kennedy, Kickback and Bribery Scheme, New Jersey 2021

A medical professional in New Jersey has admitted to participating in a massive genetic testing kickback and bribery scheme, according to U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

Shanelyn Kennedy, 25, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to an information charging her with one count of conspiring to violate the anti-kickback statute.

Kennedy is the second defendant to plead guilty in bribery and kickback schemes involving doctors and medical employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Kennedy worked as a medical assistant for Yitzachok ‘Barry’ Kurtzer, a primary care physician with separate offices in the Scranton area.

From at least 2018, Kurtzer and his wife, Robin Kurtzer accepted monthly cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for collecting DNA samples from Medicare patients and sending them for genetic tests to clinical laboratories in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The cash kickbacks ranged up to $5,000, and the Kurtzers typically accepted the cash in one of Kurtzer’s offices, at times behind locked doors.

Even as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic substantially reduced in-patient visits, the Kurtzers continued with their scheme. They went from receiving hand-delivered cash kickbacks and bribes to accepting payments by wire and through a mobile phone money-transfer application.

Kennedy participated in the conspiracy with another employee, Amber Harris, who has previously pleaded guilty for her role in the scheme.

As a result of the scheme, Medicare paid $755,241 for genetic tests generated from Kurtzer’s practice.

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