FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 24, 2023
Doctor and Office Manager at Brighton Beach Medical Clinic
Indicted for $700,000 Healthcare Fraud
Defendants Allegedly Billed Medicaid for Non-Existent Services While Selling $500,000 Worth of Prescriptions for Opioids, Narcotics and Other Controlled Substances
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York City Department of Social Services Acting Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, today announced that a doctor and office manager at a Brighton Beach medical clinic have been arraigned on an indictment in which they are charged with grand larceny and healthcare fraud for allegedly defrauding Medicaid out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In total, the defendants are alleged to have stolen more than $700,000 over a four-year period by fraudulently billing Medicaid for non-existent services and by selling prescriptions for narcotics, opioids, and other controlled substances to patients they were not treating.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “As the opioid epidemic continues to claim the lives of thousands of New Yorkers each year, it is unconscionable that these medical professionals allegedly endangered their patients’ health, trafficked in controlled substances, and stole hundreds of thousands from Medicaid. Anyone who contributes to the growth of prescription drug abuse, imperils the health and safety of Brooklyn residents, or rips off the taxpayers will be held accountable.”
Department of Social Services Acting Commissioner Park said, “The alleged conduct of these individuals is absolutely unacceptable and a clear violation of their duties as trusted medical professionals. We thank the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and our own DSS Investigators for thoroughly investigating this case and demonstrating that those who exploit our vulnerable neighbors and endanger our communities will face repercussions.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Dr. Alexander Ivanov, 66, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and Svetlana Kozlovskaya, 64, of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. They were arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which they are charged with second- and third-degree grand larceny and healthcare fraud. The defendants were released without bail and ordered to return to court on May 31, 2023.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, from approximately 2017 to 2020, the defendants ran a psychiatry practice and pain management clinic at 115 Brightwater Court in Brighton Beach where they allegedly billed Medicaid and other healthcare administrators for more than $200,000 worth of psychotherapy sessions that were never administered. Additionally, it is alleged that Dr. Ivanov wrote over $500,000 worth of prescriptions for controlled substances to patients in exchange for cash. The controlled substances included suboxone, alprazolam, amphetamine, clonazepam, diazepam, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, and tramadol. According to the investigation, many of the doctor’s patients were, in fact, substance abusers who were not receiving any kind of treatment or examination at the clinic. Furthermore, it is alleged there was no bloodwork or urinalysis performed to monitor the patients’ drug intake levels. The prescriptions were subsequently filled and paid for by Medicaid and other healthcare administrators.
The case was investigated by Detective Investigators from the District Attorney’s office, the New York City Department of Social Services, and United States Department of Health and Human Services.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Pamela J. Murray, of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.