TRENTON
- Attorney General Peter C. Harvey announced
that a former Bergen County chiropractor
previously convicted of insurance fraud
has pleaded guilty to additional charges,
including Health Care Claims Fraud for
billing an insurance company more than
$1,200 for chiropractic services that
were never provided.
According to Vaughn L. McKoy, Director,
Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Richard
Finder, 47, Westview Avenue, Fort Lee,
Bergen County, pleaded guilty before Bergen
County Superior Court Judge William C.
Meehan to a criminal Accusation which
charged Health Care Claims Fraud (2nd
degree). A second degree crime carries
a penalty of up to ten years in state
prison and a maximum fine of $150,000.
Finder may also face civil insurance fraud
fines pursuant to the civil Insurance
Fraud Prevention Act. Finder is slated
to be sentenced by Judge Meehan on Jan.
9, 2004.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown
said that Finder formerly operated The
Family Chiropractic Clinic located at
810 Abbott Blvd. in Fort Lee. In entering
a guilty plea before Judge Meehan on Nov.
7, Finder admitted that from January through
August, 2000, he submitted over $1,260
in fraudulent bills to the Cigna Insurance
Company for chiropractic treatments that
were never rendered.
Gooden Brown noted that Finder was previously
indicted by a State Grand Jury in April,
1998, on insurance fraud-related charges.
Specifically, Finder was charged with
theft by deception for submitting more
than $42,000 in fraudulent billings to
11 insurance companies. Finder pled guilty
in Nov. 1998, admitting that he submitted
fraudulent billings which included bills
for chiropractic claims covering visits
that never occurred; double billing patients'
insurers; billing insurers using false
patient names; and billing for treatments
occurring before a patient's initial visit.
Finder was sentenced by Judge Meehan on
Jan. 8, 1999 to three years probation,
ordered to pay $18,000 in restitution
and to pay a $20,000 civil insurance fraud
fine.
Finder's chiropractic license was suspended
for a period of three years with six months
of active suspension in April, 1999, by
the Board of Chiropractic Examiners. On
Dec. 5, 2002, Finder's chiropractic license
was revoked for violating the April, 1999
order.
The Accusation was filed by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor. State Investigators
Jarek Pyrzanowski and Johnny Ho, Civil
Investigator Charles Canfield, and Deputy
Attorney General Nicholas R. Vasile were
assigned to the investigation. DAG Vasile
represented the Division of Criminal Justice
- Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
at the guilty plea hearing.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown
noted that the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor realized a 143 percent increase
in indictments; a 91 percent increase
in defendants charged; a 79 percent increase
in convictions (trial convictions and
guilty pleas); and a 60 percent increase
in civil sanctions in 2002. The Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor charged
225 defendants in 2002, versus 118 defendants
in 2001. Additionally, the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor imposed sanctions in
3,723 civil fraud cases in 2002, compared
to 2,063 civil sanctions obtained in 2001.
The Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
collected $20.6 million in penalties in
2002, up from $15.8 million in 2001.
Noting that some important cases have
begun with anonymous tips from the public,
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown
encouraged anyone with information about
insurance fraud to contact the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor's toll-free hotline at
1-877-55-FRAUD, or to visit the
insurance fraud web site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org
.
Housed in the Department of Law and Public
Safety's Division of Criminal Justice
and reporting to the Attorney General,
the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
was established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998 (AICRA). The
Office is the centralized state agency
that investigates and prosecutes civil
and criminal insurance fraud, as well
as Medicaid fraud. Criminal convictions
for insurance fraud can result in fines
and imprisonment. Civil penalties can
include substantial fines and referral
for revocation or suspension of professional
licenses.
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