Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, an indictment was unsealed charging Oleg Beretsky with conspiring to commit health care fraud, violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and money laundering conspiracy. Beretsky was arrested this morning in Naples, Florida. He will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Naomi Gruchacz, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York), and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), announced the arrest and charges.
“As alleged, elderly individuals trusted the defendant to help them with their health care decisions. Rather than look out for the interests of some of the most vulnerable members of our community, he sold access to those who trusted him to the highest bidder,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “The defendant compounded his crimes by encouraging doctors and health care providers who became part of his scheme to cheat Medicare by billing for work that was not needed or never performed. My Office is committed to protecting both patients and taxpayers from this terrible form of greed.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to HSI’s Fort Myers, Florida, office and the New York City Police Department for their assistance on the case.
“Violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute can divert much-needed federal health care program funds and corrupt the medical decision-making process,” stated HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Gruchacz. “HHS-OIG works diligently with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations that owners and other providers engage in fraud schemes that prioritize greed over the provision of appropriate health care services to patients.”
“The defendant and his co-conspirators are accused of pocketing more than $12 million while exploiting the unknowing, innocent public, including victims from immigrant communities,” stated HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Alfonso. “As alleged, he took advantage of people with whom he had forged relationships — only to manipulate them into using certain doctors and services for his lucrative benefit. HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force is unmatched in its ability to draw from the strengths and equities of all partners involved, with one unified goal being the safety and security of Americans. I commend our partners, including HHS-OIG, IRS-CI, NYPD and HSI’s Fort Meyer’s personnel, for placing the wellbeing of the public above all else.”
“Millions of dollars were stolen from the American benefits system, and Oleg Beretsky is charged with the crime. He's accused of taking advantage of a vulnerable population and funneling stolen Medicare money into his and his co-conspirators' pockets. IRS-CI is charged with securing trust in the American financial system and actively investigates anyone looking to make a quick buck by stealing from the American public,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
As alleged in court filings, from January 2017 to April 2024, Beretsky and co-conspirators engaged in a health care fraud, kickback and money laundering scheme. Beretsky was the owner of Obest, Inc., a company in Plainview, New York, that purported to provide health care professionals with billing, consulting and support services. In reality, Obest’s principal business consisted of referring elderly Medicare patients to doctors and other health care professionals in exchange for kickbacks and bribes. Many of these patients were immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who Beretsky identified through an employee of a nonprofit social service agency that provided housing and other services to senior citizens in Brooklyn and Queens. Beretsky cultivated relationships with many of these patients, which he used to gain control over decisions regarding their health care providers. Beretsky then used that control to ensure that only doctors and other providers—including social workers, pain specialists and diagnostic companies—who were willing to pay him would have access to the patients. On at least one occasion, Beretsky threatened a patient who wanted to continue seeing a provider who had stopped paying illegal kickbacks to the defendant.
The fee charged by Beretsky was typically based either on how many patients Beretsky referred to the provider or how much Medicare reimbursed the provider for services purportedly rendered to the patients. To generate more fees for himself and his co-conspirators, Beretsky often encouraged or directed providers to bill Medicare for patients who did not need the services those providers rendered, and in some cases, services that were not rendered at all. In total, doctors and providers who participated in Beretsky’s scheme billed more than $22 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. Of that more than $22 million, Medicare paid more than $12.4 million in claims, which was distributed to Beretsky and his co-conspirators. To hide the illegal source of funds Beretsky received from the conspiracy, Beretsky frequently directed co-conspirators to pay his relatives in cash and transferred money to multiple accounts held in the names of his family members.
The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of the charges, Beretsky faces up to up to 20 years in prison on the money laundering conspiracy count; up to 10 years each on the health care fraud conspiracy and kickback counts; and up to five years on the kickback conspiracy count.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua B. Dugan is in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Liam McNett and Timothy Migliaro.