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The Asbury Park Press are reporting: Podiatrist gets 5 years for fraud
LOST FOREVER: His license to practice podiatryPosted by the Asbury Park
Quote:
A Long Branch podiatrist has been sentenced to a prison term for billing Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield more than $200,000 for medical services he never rendered.
According to state Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Martin H. Weinstein, 52, of Long Branch, was ordered by Superior Court Judge Francis P. DeStefano in Monmouth County to serve five years in state prison and pay $200,695 in restitution to Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
The judge also ordered him to forfeit his podiatrist's license permanently. Weinstein pleaded guilty June 11 to health care claims fraud, a charge contained in a 2003 indictment.
Weinstein initially had failed to appear at his arraignment in February 2003. In April 2007, at the request of the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, Weinstein was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in the Dominican Republic. He was taken to Miami, where he waived extradition and was returned to New Jersey on May 24.
At his plea hearing, Weinstein admitted that between January 1998 and January 1999, he fraudulently billed Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield about $285,000 for podiatric services he never rendered. He was paid more than $200,000.
By means of electronic billing from his office, Weinstein submitted the fraudulent claims to Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, according to a statement from the state Attorney General's Office.
Weinstein then diverted the insurance claim checks to a post office box he rented. He forged the patients' names on the back of the checks and deposited them into his own account to steal the money, according to the statement.
The Special Investigative Unit of Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield initially uncovered the fraud and assisted the state in the investigation. State Investigator Abraham Aquino, Civil Investigator Michael Troso, and Deputy Attorney General Steven B. Farman assisted in the investigation.
Podiatrist gets 5 years for fraud
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