DEFENDANTS SENTENCED FOR HEALTH CARE FRAUD

LAWFUEL - The Legal Newswire - R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced the September 27, 2007 sentencing of defendant Boris Royzen on healthcare fraud charges.

United States District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke sentenced Royzen to a term of 40 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit property and pay restitution in the amount of $1.8 million.

Boris Royzen and his wife Eva Royzen were among twenty-one (21) defendants charged in a thirty-three (33) count Indictment charging twenty-one (21) individuals, including doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, an office manager, and four (4) medical clinics, Vista Mar Medical Rehab Corp., Plantation Medical Recovery Center, Inc., Romana Medical, Inc., and Dial Medical Rehab, Inc., with health care fraud.

Eva Royzen was previously sentenced to a three year term of probation and ordered to forfeit property and pay restitution in the amount of $1.8 million. The medical clinics were ordered to pay restitution as follows: Vista Mar $70,674.08; Romana Medical $20,641.85; Plantation Medical Recovery $31,292.75; and Dial Medical $13,818.06.

According to the indictment and court records, from November 2003 through July 2005, the defendants conspired to commit health care fraud by submitting fraudulent health insurance claim forms to insurance companies for services that were not medically necessary and/or were not rendered. The fraudulent claims were submitted under personal injury protection (PIP) provisions for alleged victims of automobile accidents. Boris Royzen and Dmitry Rakovsky paid runners to solicit victims and alleged victims of automobile accidents to become patients of the clinics. In addition, Boris Royzen and Dmitry Rakovsky caused fraudulent applications to be filed with the State of Florida, which falsely stated that the defendant clinics were 100% owned by licensed medical practitioners when, in fact, the medical practitioners named on the applications were employees of the clinics.

The Indictment lists 30 private insurance companies, including State Farm, GEICO, AllState, Ocean Harbor Insurance, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, Direct, Progressive, Federated Insurance and United Auto Insurance, to which the defendants submitted fraudulent claims. The defendant medical clinics received over $2.5 million in insurance payments as a result of the fraudulent activity.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the Florida Department of Financial Services, and the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department. In addition, Mr. Acosta commended the support of all of the insurance companies involved in this investigation, including the Gainsco Company, Ocean Harbor Insurance, GEICO, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, Direct, United Auto Insurance, and Federated Insurance. This case was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer Keene and Laurence Bardfeld and Senior Litigation Counsel William T. Clabault, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.