NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Three men and a woman were arrested on Thursday for defrauding Amtrak’s health insurance plan of over $9 million, according to the Department of Justice.
Devon Burt, 49, Hallum Gelzer, 43, Muhammad Mirza, 50, and Punson Figueroa, 55, allegedly bribed Amtrak employees in order to submit false insurance claims in their names, which they then collected the payments from.
Starting in 2019, the group would trade cash for signatures on fraudulent claims, according to prosecutors.
An undercover cop posing as an Amtrak employee met with Figueroa in June 2021, officials said.
She allegedly instructed him to sign his name about 30 times and told him to leave the date blank.
She then submitted false claims to Amtrak’s health care plan for various phony physical therapy and acupuncture services, according to prosecutors.
They met again the following month, and Figuero allegedly gave the undercover agent an envelope with $1,000 cash.
Figueroa continued to use the undercover’s information to submit fraudulent claims, authorities said. She allegedly made 73 in total, for which she reaped $31,840.
That was just a fraction of the $9 million total that the defendants allegedly collected over the course of their scheme.
They each face healthcare fraud charges and were released on $200,000 bond.
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