A fraudulent scheme that deceived insurance providers and exploited patients in need of physical therapy has been exposed in Boston, Massachusetts. A group of individuals have become entangled in a multimillion-dollar plot centered around the physical therapy clinic Brighton Physical Therapy (BPT).
Anna Barenboym, a 47-year-old Wayland woman, was sentenced yesterday to one year of probation with one month of home confinement. Barenboym was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $648,852, according to the Department of Justice's U.S Attorney in the District of Massachusetts. She had pleaded guilty in March 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud after being indicted alongside her co-defendants Gyulnara Bayryshova, Slava Pride, and Raya Bagardi in February 2021.
Barenboym, a licensed physical therapist employed at BPT, conspired with her co-defendants from October 2018 through June 2020 to mislead insurance companies into reimbursing them for physical therapy services that were either not provided or not medically necessary. Furthermore, some of the services were performed by unlicensed individuals. This dishonesty mainly targeted patients who were injured in automobile accident.
BPT also engaged in unsavory practices, such as paying patients for referrals, directing them to certain attorneys to assist with obtaining insurance settlements, and later to accepting kickbacks from those attorneys. The clinic's owner, Bayryshova, and her associates, Pride and Bagardi, who were also employed at BPT as licensed physical therapist assistants, face similar charges for their involvement in the fraudulent scheme.
The case has seen a rapid progression in the month of July, 2023. Slava Pride was sentenced to two years in prison, two years of supervised release, and had to pay restitution of over $2.3 million. Raya Bagardi received two years of supervised release, including home confinement for the first year, and was also ordered to pay restitution exceeding $2.3 million. Lastly, Gyulnara Bayryshova, the mastermind behind the scheme, was sentenced to three years in prison, two years of supervised release, and must pay restitution amounting to $7,383,756, along with a forfeiture of $7,834.
Through diligent investigation and prosecution efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts, and the Boston and Quincy Police Departments, the perpetrators of this elaborate conspiracy have been successfully held accountable for their actions. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit has been leading the prosecution of the case.
