The Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in the Southern District of New York, at 500 Pearl St. Photo: Ryland West/ALM
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday announced that two lawyers and two doctors have been charged with fraud in connection with a $31 million scheme involving fake trip-and-fall incidents.
Between 2013 and 2018, the defendants allegedly recruited more than 400 people to deliberately fall or claim to have fallen at sites around the New York City area.
Attorneys George Constantine and Marc Elefant then filed personal injury lawsuits against the site owners or their insurers, and the so-called patients were referred to medical professionals, including the defendants Andrew Dowd and Sady Ribeiro, to undergo surgeries and other treatment even when it was medically unnecessary, according to the prosecutors.
The patients were paid $1,000 to $1,500 after each surgery, and they were generally told to undergo two surgeries as a condition of continuing with their lawsuits, according to prosecutors.
The defendants have been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss of the Southern District of New York said the defendants preyed upon "the most vulnerable members of our society," including those who lived in homeless shelters and needed the post-surgery payments to afford food and clothing.
"As alleged, the defendants abused their professional licenses and positions of trust to steal millions of dollars from New York City businesses and their insurance companies through a massive trip-and-fall fraud scheme," Strauss said.
Michael Bachner of Bachner & Associates, who is representing Elefant, said his client denies the allegations and looks forward to his day in court.
"We are confident that the evidence proves that Mr. Elefant acted in good faith and in reliance on the information provided to him," Bachner said.
Dowd's attorney, Aaron Mysliwiec of Miedel & Mysliwiec, declined to comment, and attorneys representing Constantine and Ribeiro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska.
Jane Wester
Jane Wester is a litigation reporter for the New York Law Journal. Email her at [email protected] or find her on Twitter @janewester.