Originally Posted - July 31, 2006

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NEW YORK---Seventeen people and three corporations have been indicted on charges that they engaged in an elaborate scheme to defraud no-fault insurance carriers.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer also released a comprehensive report detailing the office's accomplishments as the state's special prosecutor for auto insurance fraud. "Auto insurance fraud hits consumers and businesses hard. Targeting those who cheat the system is beginning to bring premiums down for the law-abiding public," Spitzer said. "Over the last five years, the auto-insurance fraud unit has cracked down on lawyers, health professionals, and phony accident victims who have cheated us through lucrative and complex no-fault schemes."

The defendants are charged in three separate indictments unsealed last week by Justice Joseph Kevin McKay in New York State Supreme Court, Kings County.

In the first indictment, three defendants, including a doctor and a medical clinic owner, are charged with enterprise corruption, a class B felony. The defendants allegedly earned millions of dollars through their operation and control of AR Medical Art, P.C. (AR Medical), a medical clinic in the Midwood section of Brooklyn that "treated" persons purportedly injured in car accidents.

Other charges in the indictment include scheme to defraud, money laundering, grand larceny, insurance fraud, falsifying business records, and offering a false instrument for filing.

The Attorney General has also brought a civil case against the defendants seeking the forfeiture of over $3.9 million in illegally obtained proceeds. As part of that case, the Attorney General has obtained a court order freezing assets--including bank account proceeds and real property- of Inna Polack, 36, of Staten Island; and Dr. Alexander Rozenberg, 52, of Brooklyn; and three corporate defendants. The order was issued by Justice Ira B. Harkavy of Kings County Supreme Court, civil term.

In the two other indictments unsealed Monday, 14 people were charged with staging car accidents throughout New York City and attending clinics, including AR Medical, for treatment of their feigned injuries. These two staged accident ring indictments charged the defendants with scheme to defraud, insurance fraud, larceny, falsifying business records, and offering a false instrument for filing.

All three indictments allege that the defendants submitted fraudulent no-fault claims to insurance carriers. The no-fault law governs the provision of medical care to people injured in car accidents.

The enterprise corruption indictment alleges that although the owner of record of AR Medical was Dr. Alexander Rozenberg, a physician specializing in physical rehabilitation, he did not control the operations or the financial affairs of the clinic. Instead, Inna Polack, who lacks a health provider license, secretly owned the clinic and decided what medical and health services were to be provided to patients. The defendants acquired patients through a network of "steerers," who were paid to refer patients to AR Medical. Steerers solicited patients by staging motor vehicle accidents and by offering the clinic's "services" to real car accident victims. Shaun "Prince" Robinson, 36, of Brooklyn, is charged as a steerer in one of the staged accident ring indictments. Glen "AZ" Elfe, 37, of Fresh Meadows, is charged as a steerer in the other. Robinson and Elfe allegedly staged accidents by recruiting individuals to pose as injured pedestrians or bicyclists, and also recruited individuals to pose as witnesses.

The indictment further alleges that, following referrals of patients to AR Medical, Rozenberg conducted cursory medical evaluations, fabricated patients' symptoms, falsely diagnosed extensive soft tissue injuries, and referred patients for prolonged, unnecessary treatment and testing. This treatment included months of physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and psychological counseling, as well as MRIs, x-rays, and nerve testing. Natalya Shvartsman, 47, of Brooklyn, a manager of AR Medical, is charged with furthering the clinic's corrupt activities by ensuring that patients received such treatment and testing and by submitting fraudulent claims to no-fault insurance carriers.

Additional defendants named in the enterprise indictment are: Mighty Management L.L.C., and Mighty Management Group, Inc., two Brooklyn-based management companies, both owned by Polack, allegedly used to launder funds of the enterprise.

The additional defendants charged as members of the staged accident ring headed by Shaun Robinson are: Todd Brown, 39, Kevin Plummer, 39, Timothy Britt, 36, Tony Dubose, 28, Alan Washington, 28, Eric Cummings, 35, James Foster, 46, Marvin Shine, 40, and Jason Robinson, 26, all of Brooklyn.

The additional defendants charged as members of the staged accident ring headed by Glen Elfe are: Shawn "Mel" Thomas, 39, Bruce James, 33, and Joseph Tabois, 25, all of Brooklyn.

The prosecutions stem from a joint 20-month investigation conducted by Attorney General Spitzer's Auto Insurance Fraud Unit and the New York State Insurance Department's Fraud Bureau, and the New York City Police Department's Fraud Accident Investigation Squad. The investigation included the use of court-authorized wiretaps.

Since January 2002, when it made its first series of arrests, the Auto Insurance Fraud Unit has brought felony insurance fraud and related charges against 300 defendants.

Auto Insurance Fraud Unit 5 Year Report 7-31-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette