Brooklyn bank manager jailed for helping launder millions from $10.6bn Medicare fraud
A former Brooklyn bank manager was sentenced to 18 months in prison for helping an international criminal syndicate launder millions of dollars derived from a sprawling $10.6 billion Medicare fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Renat Abramov, 37, worked as a relationship manager at a bank branch in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. Prosecutors said he acted as a “concierge banker” for participants in the scheme, opening accounts for people who appeared on paper to own medical equipment companies.
More than $8 million in fraud proceeds passed through the accounts, according to the Justice Department. Abramov also helped the nominal company owners make wire transfers, provided information about the accounts and facilitated the transfer of funds offshore.
Abramov pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit money laundering. His conviction marked the first time the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Unit had convicted a former bank employee of conspiring to launder health care fraud proceeds.
His prosecution was part of Operation Gold Rush, a nationwide investigation into what the Justice Department described as the largest health care fraud scheme it had ever charged. The operation produced charges against 19 people across five federal jurisdictions.
Prosecutors said the criminal organization, based in Russia and elsewhere, sent straw owners into the United States to acquire dozens of medical equipment companies. The companies then used stolen personal and medical information belonging to more than one million Americans to submit $10.6 billion in claims to Medicare, primarily for urinary catheters and other medical equipment.
Federal authorities prevented Medicare from paying all but approximately $41 million of the $4.45 billion that had been scheduled for disbursement. Supplemental insurers nevertheless paid the companies about $900 million, the Justice Department said.
“The sentence makes one thing clear: anyone who helps fraudsters conceal the proceeds of their crimes can expect to face serious consequences,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.
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