Photo Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York
Pikus was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, conspiracy to receive and pay healthcare kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.
By Forum Staff
The manager of medical clinics in Queens and Brooklyn was found guilty on all counts for his role in multimillion-dollar healthcare kickback and money-laundering schemes, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Specifically, Aleksandr Pikus, 44, was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, conspiracy to receive and pay healthcare kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.
According to officials, as proven at trial, Pikus and his four co-conspirators operated a series of medical clinics for nearly a decade that employed doctors, physical and occupational therapists, and other medical professionals who were enrolled in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Brooklyn resident Pikus and his co-conspirators referred individuals to these healthcare providers who, in turn, submitted nearly $100 million in claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In return for his referrals, Pikus received illegal kickbacks from the medical providers in the form of checks payable to shell companies that he and his co-conspirators controlled. Pikus then laundered a substantial portion of the illegal proceeds of the scheme through check-cashing businesses and failed to report that income to the IRS, according to authorities. Pikus used the cash to enrich himself and to pay patient recruiters, including
ambulette drivers, who paid beneficiaries to receive treatment at Pikus’s clinics.
“Every day, we entrust medical service providers with our most valuable asset—our health,” said Jonathan Larsen, acting special agent-in-charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “That is why healthcare kickbacks and money-laundering schemes like this one are particularly disturbing.”
When sentenced, Pikus faces a maximum sentence of up to 70 years’ imprisonment.
