Area Med Suppliers Nabbed In $3M Health Care Scam

Seventeen men were indicted and a dozen medical supply companies were raided last week for their alleged involvement in a health care scam that netted more than $3 million for the conspirators. Most of those involved hailed from the Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend and Midwood neighborhoods.

According to SILive.com, federal authorities say the defendants submitted false invoices to insurances companies for medical equipment with “payments that were well in excess of the price they initially paid through their individual retail medical supply companies.”  Paybacks were given in checks issues to the wholesale companies, and the checks were cashed at check-cashing stores and delivered to the defendants.

Each of the 17 defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.

“The type of health care fraud and money laundering scheme these individuals allegedly constructed and engaged in affects all Americans and directly impacts America’s health care system,” said James T. Hayes Jr., special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, which conducted the investigation with the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.

Those involved include Grigory Branfenbrener, 57, of Port Washington, L.I.; Gennadiy Bronshteyn, 51, of Brooklyn; Vladimir Khmelnitski, 45, of Brooklyn; Iliya Mugerman, 46; Bela Rud, 38, of Brooklyn; Viktor Semerik, 44, of Brooklyn; Arkadi Shapiro, 59, of Brooklyn; Igor Shturman, 48, of Brooklyn; Mariya Gomelskaya, 27, of Brooklyn; Igor Ladanov, 28, of Brooklyn, and Artem Yuryev, 31, of Brooklyn; Aleksandr Afanasyev, 44, of Staten Island; Eduard Bodrunov, 49, of Statein Island; Igor Vetukh, 50, of Brooklyn; and Denis Zagladko, 29, of Brooklyn. An internet search shows that many of the defendants are residents of Sheepshead Bay and the surrounding area.

The medical supply companies raided included Kristar Inc. on Eighth Street, Promed Supply Co. Inc. on Coney Island Avenue, Dorsi Medical Supply Inc. on Avenue T and DB Supply Inc./Avgur on W. Seventh Street.

Eastern District Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Brownell and Evan Weitz are prosecuting the case in Brooklyn federal court.