Kalkanis once worked out of this physical therapy office in Astoria.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Four borough residents and one Brooklyn man were arrested Thursday morning for their roles in an alleged slip-and-fall scheme which defrauded NYC-area businesses and their health insurance companies of nearly $32 million, according to federal authorities.
Peter Kalkanis, Bryan Duncan, Kerry Gordon, and Ryan Rainford, all of Queens; and Robert Locust, who lives in Brooklyn, were arraigned on an indictment charging each with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
The indictment also charges Kalkanis with one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to charging papers, since 2013, the five men have been engaged in a widespread scheme through which they defrauded businesses and insurance companies by staging slip-and-fall accidents and filing fraudulent lawsuits arising from those phony incidents. The long-running scheme’s participants recruited individuals to stage slip-and-fall accidents at particular locations throughout the five boroughs and to claim that they injured themselves as a result of their accidents. The recruited “patients” were directed to claim that they had injured themselves and to seek medical treatment.
After the staged slip-and-fall accidents, recruited patients were referred to specific attorneys who would file lawsuits against the owners of the accident sites and/or insurance companies of the owners of the accident sites. The lawsuits did not disclose that the recruited patients had deliberately fallen at the accident sites or, in some cases, had not fallen at all, according to the indictment. During the course of the scheme, the five men, together with others known and unknown, attempted to defraud business owners and/or insurance companies of at least $31,791,000.
Additionally, according to the indictment, the recruited patients were also instructed to receive ongoing chiropractic and medical treatment from certain chiropractors and doctors. The fraud scheme participants advised the recruited patients that if they intended to continue with their lawsuits, they were required to undergo surgery. As an incentive to getting surgery, the recruits were offered a payment after they completed surgery as well as a percentage of any settlement payment from their lawsuit.
Kalkanis, 70, a failed chiropractor, is believed to be the organizer and leader of the scheme. According to the healthcare referral service Health Grades, Kalkanis, who worked out of an Astoria physical therapy office, had his license revoked in 2016 by the State Office of the Professions after he was found guilty of professional misconduct stemming from a petit larceny conviction.
Duncan, 30, Gordon, 34, Rainford, 28, and Locust, 52, helped recruit “patients” into the fraud scheme, transported patients to medical and legal appointments, identified potential accident sites, and coached recruited patients on faking their injuries, federal officials said.
