NYPD sting hits doctors in $6M insurance scam
BY MICHAEL WHITE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
Wednesday, March 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
Scheming Manhattan doctors and medical workers who ran up $6 million in
fraudulent insurance billings were busted yesterday, police said.
The fraud ring, run out of the St. Nicholas Ave. Medical Center in Washington Heights, unraveled after it was infiltrated by two undercover cops last fall, officials
said.
Word had spread in the neighborhood that anyone visiting the clinic could make a quick buck if they were willing to milk minor car accidents for big medical
bills, NYPD Lt. Edwin Martinez said.
The undercover cops, introduced to the St. Nicholas doctors by a confidential informant, only had to show the clinic's personnel an NYPD accident report.
They were then coached through getting $10,000 worth of bogus treatment - billed to the insurance companies with kickbacks all around, Martinez said.
Everyone took a piece of the pie, Martinez said, with the lion's share going to the accused owner and operator Gregory Vinarsky, who lives in a luxe pad on the upper East Side.
Vinarsky, along with two doctors and 11 other participants - including medical technicians and an acupuncturist - were swept up yesterday. All pleaded not
guilty to insurance fraud charges.
The alleged scam depended on so-called runners, who would listen to police scanners and respond to minor car accidents, telling those involved how to make a
quick buck, police said.
"These participants are paid by the runners, and are told, 'The more times you go for treatment, the more money we could get you,'"
Martinez said, adding that the runners got between $2,500 and $3,000 for each referral.
Police are still investigating the ring and anticipate further arrests in the 10-year-old clinic's scam, cops said.
[url=mailto:mwhite@nydailynews.com]mwhite@nydailynews.com[/url]
BY MICHAEL WHITE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
Wednesday, March 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
Scheming Manhattan doctors and medical workers who ran up $6 million in
fraudulent insurance billings were busted yesterday, police said.
The fraud ring, run out of the St. Nicholas Ave. Medical Center in Washington Heights, unraveled after it was infiltrated by two undercover cops last fall, officials
said.
Word had spread in the neighborhood that anyone visiting the clinic could make a quick buck if they were willing to milk minor car accidents for big medical
bills, NYPD Lt. Edwin Martinez said.
The undercover cops, introduced to the St. Nicholas doctors by a confidential informant, only had to show the clinic's personnel an NYPD accident report.
They were then coached through getting $10,000 worth of bogus treatment - billed to the insurance companies with kickbacks all around, Martinez said.
Everyone took a piece of the pie, Martinez said, with the lion's share going to the accused owner and operator Gregory Vinarsky, who lives in a luxe pad on the upper East Side.
Vinarsky, along with two doctors and 11 other participants - including medical technicians and an acupuncturist - were swept up yesterday. All pleaded not
guilty to insurance fraud charges.
The alleged scam depended on so-called runners, who would listen to police scanners and respond to minor car accidents, telling those involved how to make a
quick buck, police said.
"These participants are paid by the runners, and are told, 'The more times you go for treatment, the more money we could get you,'"
Martinez said, adding that the runners got between $2,500 and $3,000 for each referral.
Police are still investigating the ring and anticipate further arrests in the 10-year-old clinic's scam, cops said.
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