A Long Island chiropractor, Raymond R. Pellegrino, has pleaded guilty to health care fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York before District Judge Joseph F. Bianco.
When sentenced, Pellegrino faces up to 10 years in prison, as well as restitution of $2,110,000, forfeiture of $504,444, and a fine to be determined.
“Pellegrino abused his position of trust as a health care provider by billing millions of dollars in fraudulent claims for services that doctors never provided,” stated Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. His guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Donoghue said, “sends the message that those who engage in such criminal conduct will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Prosecutors said that Pellegrino operated chiropractic offices in West Hempstead and Hicksville, New York. He hired medical doctors for part-time work and then billed Anthem Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield under the taxpayer identification numbers of those doctors for osteopathic manipulation and other services purportedly provided to beneficiaries. Between December 2013 and September 2014, Pellegrino was paid over $2 million for fraudulent claims filed with Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, billing for medical services that he knew the doctors had not provided, the government said.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].