Medicaid scam arrests include 23 men and women where nine were identified as physicians. In an attempt to earn money by luring homeless shelters, low-income neighborhoods, and welfare offices, 23 people were indicted in a Hefty $7 million scam in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
The defendants made money in the areas of Brooklyn and the Bronx by just shouting free shoes. The Medicaid scam arrests led to the 199-count indictment where medical professionals were included in the charges. The scammers targeted homeless and low-income people who have legitimate Medicaid card.
"Free sneakers, shoes and boots today," Bernard Rorie, one of the scammers shouted as he entice those who have valid Medicaid card.
However, without his knowledge, he was being watched by investigators to capture his tactics in recruiting people and later collecting thousands of dollars from false Medicaid claims, cited by the New York Times.
Rorie was one of the charged in the Medicaid scam. Arrests had been made on Tuesday in Brooklyn for charges including enterprise corruption, health fraud, and money laundering. Among the arrested were nine doctors, who performed fake examinations and false diagnoses to homeless people in New York.
Medicaid scam arrests were made after the defendants were proven guilty of recruiting poor people who have official Medicaid card, leading them to various New York clinics for false check up, tests and diagnoses.
These people in return get free shoes while the scammers including doctors, billing specialists and staff members earn millions of dollars for collecting counterfeit Medicaid claims.
District Attorney Thompson stated his remarks on the Medicaid scam arrests saying the defendants exploited the most vulnerable members of the society and raked in millions of dollars by doing so.
According to Thompson, the defendants referred the homeless shelters, welfare offices and soup kitchens as 'guinea pigs,' the Brooklyn Eagle reports.
Eric Vainer, 43, was among included in the Medicaid scam arrests. He and his mother, Polina Vainer, 66, were identified as the mastermind of the sweeping health care fraud scheme that spans across five areas in New York.
Vainer and his mother planned the multi-million Medicaid scam by sending recruiters in various areas that include welfare offices in Jamaica, Queens, and Brownsville, Brooklyn and Chelsea and soup kitchens to decoy homeless people with Medicaid cards.
Prior to the Medicaid scam arrests, the target "patient" receives sturdy ankle brace or orthotic sole with low-priced pair of sneakers or sandals after they have been checked by a podiatrist performing hasty needless tests at a clinic run by Vainer, according to Cubic Lane.
It was not the first time that Vainer was included in certain run-ins with the authorities. Aside from the recent Medicaid scam arrests, Vainer was convicted of securities fraud in the late 1990s during the time the Y2K bug was at its hype. He was sentenced for two years for the offense he committed.
Physicians such as cardiologist, podiatrists, psychiatrist, vascular surgeon, and pain management specialist were included in the Medicaid scam arrests. The multi-million dollar Medicaid fraud was first exposed in 2012 that took three years of investigation before finally leading to the Medicaid scam arrests.
