February 16, 2023 - David M. Eskew

Brooklyn, New York – On February 15, 2023, a Kings County Judge sentenced an AEL client – a radiologist based on Long Island, New York – to a sentence of probation. As part of the global resolution of the charges, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office also agreed to release its restraints on the client’s home, car, and over approximately $1 million in assets held in nearly two dozen bank, credit and brokerage accounts. AEL also negotiated for the doctor to retain his medical license pursuant to the terms of a Consent Agreement that was negotiated with the New York Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) in conjunction with the entry of the client’s plea in this matter.

This global resolution and probationary sentence resolved a years’ long multi-defendant criminal case that began in 2017 and straddled (and was repeatedly delayed by) the COVID-19 pandemic. The client was originally charged in a sweeping 34-defendant, 878-count indictment that alleged, among other things, a $146 million healthcare fraud scheme. The client emphatically denied his involvement in the broader enterprise corruption conspiracy charged in the complaint and consistently maintained that he endeavored to improve the alleged conspirators’ medical practices rather than joining in a conspiracy with them. Over the course of many years, with the assistance of and in collaboration with the client, AEL succeeded in whittling away the State’s case and proofs. In December 2022, after extensive negotiation amongst the DA’s Office and AEL, the client pled guilty to a single count of healthcare fraud in the third degree – a lesser included offense of one of the counts of the indictment – admitting that he had wrongfully received in the aggregate more than just $10,000 from a single health plan. The parties stipulated to a probationary sentence, a $400,000 forfeiture, release of the remaining restraints on the client’s property, including the client’s home and more than $1 million in assets, and the maintenance of the client’s medical license.

The case was handled by AEL partner David M. Eskew and associate Julia H. Sear.

AEL prides itself on its evidence-based approach to its defense of white-collar criminal and complex fraud cases and its particular expertise in achieving global resolutions in parallel criminal and civil investigations and cases that threaten not only criminal and civil penalties, but administrative and professional licensing issues as well.