NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A New York City surgeon pleaded guilty on Thursday to a scheme that involved paying desperate, destitute people to undergo unneeded surgery as part of a plot to sue businesses for fake “trip-and-fall” accidents, according to the Department of Justice.
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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 position of trust by performing medically unnecessary surgeries to increase the value of fraudulent trip-and-fall lawsuits,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said. “In carrying out the scheme, Adrian Alexander, who funded many of the fraudulent lawsuits, Sady Ribeiro, and their co-conspirators preyed upon the most vulnerable members of society in order to enrich themselves. Ribeiro and Alexander now await sentencing for their reprehensible crimes.”
Alexander pleaded guilty on Aug. 30.
Ribeiro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Thursday.
He faces up to 10 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Jan. 5.
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