{"id":13466,"date":"2015-07-08T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T19:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466"},"modified":"2015-07-08T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T19:01:08","slug":"doctor-gets-five-years-in-prison-for-taking-1-8-million-in-bribes-for-test-referrals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Gets Five Years in Prison for Taking $1.8 Million in Bribes for Test Referrals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FBI<\/a>NEW JERSEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

A U.S. district judge today sentenced a doctor to five years and three months in prison for accepting $1.8 million in bribes to refer million of dollars in business to\u00a0Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS),<\/strong> of Parsippany, New Jersey, officials said.<\/p>\n

Officials said the long-running scheme involved the lab, its president and numerous associates, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman f<\/strong>or the District of New Jersey announced.<\/p>\n

Frank Santangelo<\/strong>, 45, of Boonton, New Jersey, plead guilty to violating the Travel Act, money laundering and failing to file tax returns.<\/p>\n

In addition to the prison term, Santangelo must also forfeit more than $1.8 million as part of his plea agreement.\u00a0 The investigation has so far recovered more than $11.5 million through forfeiture, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cSantangelo admitted he violated the trust of his patients, who should be able to count on their doctors\u2019 prescribing only tests that are necessary and recommending providers based solely on their qualifications,\u201d Fishman said.\u00a0 \u201cThis type of fraud compromises patient care and drives up the cost of health care.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Including Santangelo, 38 people, 26 of them doctors, have pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme, which its organizers have admitted involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies, official stated.<\/p>\n

Santangelo also pleaded guilty to money laundering, admitting that he used another individual in an attempt to hide the bribes from BLS, and to failing to file tax returns from 2009-2011 and pay taxes owed during that time period.<\/p>\n

According to the evidence in this case, these are the facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Santangelo, who has offices in Montville, New Jersey, and Wayne, New Jersey, received more than $1.8 million in bribe payments from BLS for referrals for which the lab was paid more than $6 million by Medicare and various insurance companies.<\/p>\n

After receiving more than $800,000 from BLS through sham lease agreements and sham service agreements between 2006 and 2010, Santangelo began receiving bribes from BLS through a third party \u2013 often tens of thousands of dollars a month \u2013 totaling more than $1 million between 2010 and his arrest in April 2013.<\/p>\n

Santangelo acknowledged the authenticity of text messages between himself and BLS president and part owner David Nicoll<\/strong>, 41, of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey in which Santangelo referred to ordering unnecessary tests to increase referrals to BLS in exchange for bribes.<\/p>\n

In one text message conversation, Santangelo said he and another doctor had \u201cput our heads together and added a significant amount of testing\u2026.The testing is 90 percent legit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santangelo detailed his plan to send $1 million per month in blood testing referrals to BLS by increasing the number of blood tests being ordered, including medically unnecessary tests.<\/p>\n

In another text message conversation, officials said Nicoll wrote to Santangelo about the status of their referral agreement, stating that BLS \u201creally can\u2019t afford the 40-50,000 [dollars] a month if the girls aren\u2019t going to be drawing any blood,\u201d to which Santangelo responded by stating, \u201cU no u can count on me!\u201d and \u201cI never let u down!\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 9, 2013, federal agents arrested David Nicoll<\/strong>; Scott Nicoll,<\/strong> 34, of Wayne, New Jersey, a senior BLS employee and David Nicoll\u2019s brother; and Craig Nordman<\/strong>, 36, of Whippany, New Jersey, a BLS employee and the CEO of Advantech Sales LLC \u2013 an entity used by BLS to make illegal payments. They were charged by federal complaint with the bribery conspiracy, along with the BLS company and Santangelo.<\/p>\n

David and Scott Nicoll and Nordman are awaiting sentencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysicians who accept kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals and ordering medically unnecessary blood tests undermine the public\u2019s faith in the medical profession and the financial stability of Medicare,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert for the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General or OIG.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cOIG will continue to protect both taxpayers and patients by holding physicians accountable for such wrongdoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s sentencing of Frank Santangelo is the result of a long-term, multi-agency investigation into a complex health care fraud scheme which involved millions of dollars,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel of the Newark Division for the FBI.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adding \u201cSantangelo\u2019s arrest and sentencing send the message the FBI and its law enforcement partners will continue to zealously \u00a0these fraud and abuse schemes, which divert critical resources from of our already overburdened health care system and contribute exponentially to the rising cost of health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW JERSEY A U.S. district judge today sentenced a doctor to five years and three months in prison for accepting $1.8 million in bribes to refer million of dollars in business to\u00a0Biodiagnostic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[307],"class_list":["post-13466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-bribery"],"yoast_head":"\nDoctor Gets Five Years for Bribery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A doctor admitted to taking $1.8 million in bribes for medical tests referrals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctor Gets Five Years for Bribery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A doctor admitted to taking $1.8 million in bribes for medical tests referrals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-08T19:01:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Doctor Gets Five Years in Prison for Taking $1.8 Million in Bribes for Test Referrals\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-08T19:01:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466\"},\"wordCount\":750,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bribery\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466\",\"name\":\"Doctor Gets Five Years for Bribery\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-08T19:01:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"A doctor admitted to taking $1.8 million in bribes for medical tests referrals\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13466#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":411},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Doctor Gets Five Years for Bribery","description":"A doctor admitted to taking $1.8 million in bribes for medical tests referrals","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Doctor Gets Five Years for Bribery","og_description":"A doctor admitted to taking $1.8 million in bribes for medical tests referrals","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-07-08T19:01:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":411,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Doctor Gets Five Years in Prison for Taking $1.8 Million in Bribes for Test Referrals","datePublished":"2015-07-08T19:01:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466"},"wordCount":750,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg","keywords":["Bribery"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466","name":"Doctor Gets Five Years for Bribery","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-08T19:01:08+00:00","description":"A doctor admitted to taking $1.8 million in bribes for medical tests referrals","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13466#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Frank-Santangelo.jpg","width":500,"height":411},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13466"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13470,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466\/revisions\/13470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}