LI attorney charged in $1.7M Medicaid fraud scheme: AG

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A Long Island attorney faces charges in a Medicaid-fraud and money-laundering scheme, authorities said.

Anthony Cornachio, of Garden City, and two Medicaid-enrolled drug treatment programs ­he controlled – Bronx-based NRI Group and Brooklyn-based Canarsie Aware ­– were charged in the scheme, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman.

Cornachio is currently the village attorney for the Village of Island Park and a trustee of Nassau Community College.

Also charged are “three-quarter” housing operators Yury Baumblit, 66, and Rimma Baumblit, 60, of Brooklyn, and their company Brooklyn-based Back on Track Group. Three-quarter homes in New York City are private entities that provide housing to indigent, formerly homeless individuals and those transitioning out of incarceration. These homes are funded primarily from each resident’s monthly housing allowance provided by the New York City Human Resources Administration.

Prosecutors say that the Baumblits, were paid by Cornachio’s companies in a scheme that forced residents of their three-quarter homes, telling them they would either face eviction if they didn’t attend NRI and Canarsie whether or not they needed drug treatment services.

According to authorities, since at least 2013, Cornachio allegedly paid Back on Track Group more than $900,000 in illegal kickbacks.  Cornachio, through NRI and Canarsie, was involved in submitting at least $1.7 million in false, fraudulent claims for reimbursement to Medicaid for often medically unnecessary treatment.

“We allege that the defendants engaged in a deliberate scheme to exploit those struggling with substance abuse in order to line their own pockets with millions,” Schneiderman said, in a statement. “Medicaid cannot serve as a personal piggy bank for criminals and fraudsters who have little regard for the well-being of their fellow New Yorkers.”

“By forcing residents to submit themselves to medical tests and treatments that in many cases they didn’t even need, these defendants have shown not only a clear intention to defraud Medicaid but also an absolute disregard for human dignity,” Department of Social Service Commissioner Steven Banks said, in a stataement.

Cornachio and his treatment programs as well as the Baumblits and their corporation are charged with first-degree grand larceny and second-degree money laundering.

Cornachio and his programs are also charged with violating a Social Services law that prohibits an enrolled Medicaid provider from paying kickbacks. The Baumblits and their corporation are charged violating a Social Services law that prohibits acting in concert with an enrolled Medicaid provider and accepting the payment of kickbacks.

If convicted on all charges, the defendants each face up to 25 years each in state prison.

The Baumblits were indicted earlier this year in another case involving a kickback arrangement with another substance abuse treatment program. They are currently in incarcerated while they await trial in this case.