NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A New York City surgeon was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for his role in a “trip-and-fall” insurance scheme in which he performed unneeded back surgeries on homeless people.
Dr. Sady Ribeiro, 72, and co-conspirator Adrian Alexander, 75, would recruit people from homeless shelters and drug addicts desperate for money to stage or lie about accidents in which the “patient” would trip.
Alexander, who ran a litigation funding company, would then organize a lawsuit against the businesses where the phony accident took place.
More than 400 “patients” participated in this scheme, in which the conspirators made more than $31 million.
The “patients” were instructed to undergo one or two surgeries, for which they were typically paid between $1,000 and $1,500.
Ribeiro is believed to have performed unneeded back surgeries and other medical procedures on nearly 200 people.
The litigation funding companies that supported the scheme would usually set interest rates so high that the “patients” received none of the proceeds from successful lawsuits.
In an August 2015 letter to Alexander, Ribeiro said, “I will play very honest ‘game’ with you… I see the patient and I generate a very good dictation that justifies the treatment — there is a cost for that and I hope a profit.”
“Sady Ribeiro abused his professional license and broke his vow to do no harm by performing scores of medically unnecessary, invasive surgeries to increase the value of fraudulent trip-and-fall lawsuits,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “In carrying out the scheme, Ribeiro and his co-conspirators preyed upon the most vulnerable members of society — many of whom were poor, drug addicts, or homeless — in order to enrich themselves.”
Alexander pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud at the end of August, and Ribeiro pleaded guilty to the same charges in September.
In addition to the three-year sentence, the judge ordered Ribeiro serve three years post supervision release.
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