Brooklyn’s underground medical racket just got exposed. Six defendants — doctors Mustak Y. Vaid, Paul J. Mathieu, and Ewald J. Antoine, alongside healthcare executives Marina Burman, Asher Oleg Kataev a/k/a “Oleg Kataev,” and Alla Tsirlin — are charged in a $33 million Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme tied to eight fake clinics across the borough. The operation, which spanned from 2007 to 2013, allegedly turned taxpayer-funded healthcare into a criminal ATM, exploiting elderly and financially struggling patients for profit.
According to the superseding indictment unsealed today by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York, the defendants funneled millions by billing for medical services, tests, and supplies that were never needed — or even administered. To fuel the scam, co-conspirators paid cash kickbacks to vulnerable patients insured by Medicare and Medicaid, coercing them into becoming pawns in a vast fraud network. These so-called ‘Paid Patients’ were shuttled to clinics via arranged transportation, despite having no medical need for care.
At the core of the scheme was Aleksandr Burman, a non-licensed operator who set up the eight clinics and used doctors Vaid, Mathieu, and Antoine as frontmen. New York law requires medical clinics to be owned by licensed professionals — so the doctors were hired only to sign off on fake patient charts and prescribe unnecessary treatments. They showed up sporadically, rubber-stamped treatments they never performed, and collected paychecks for fraud, not medicine. The clinics then billed federal programs for millions in phantom services.
“These defendants allegedly operated fraudulent medical clinics and suppliers in a scheme that bilked Medicare and Medicaid out of more than $30 million,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “Three of the defendants were doctors who, in violation of their Hippocratic oath, signed medical charts for patients they never treated and prescribed unnecessary medications, procedures, and supplies. Medicare and Medicaid were established to assist the elderly and economically disadvantaged, not to serve as cash cows for allegedly corrupt professionals.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. slammed the defendants for exploiting public trust. “Their litany of crimes included paying a series of kickbacks, writing scripts for unnecessary medical tests, and arranging transportation services for patients who didn’t need a ride. Today’s charges certainly won’t prove to be a cure for all ills, but they are a step in the right direction when it comes to confronting the threats faced by the health care system.”
Medicaid Inspector General Dennis Rosen emphasized the human cost: “Those who seek personal gain by preying upon vulnerable New Yorkers and exploiting the Medicaid program will be held fully accountable.” Vaid was previously arrested in November 2016; Mathieu, Antoine, Burman, Kataev, and Tsirlin were taken into custody today and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox. The case is now assigned to U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield. Charges carry severe penalties under federal fraud statutes, with maximum sentences that could exceed decades in prison if convicted.
Related Federal Cases
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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