All three were certified homemaker home health aides at Confident Care Corporation, a company that is headquartered in Hackensack and has ten satellite offices throughout New Jersey, as well as offices in Florida.
Elhan Gurban, 52, of Fort Lee, was charged with 45 counts of second-degree health care claims fraud and one count each of third-degree Medicaid fraud and third-degree theft by deception.
The state grand jury indictment alleges that between January 2008 and October 2012, Gurban caused 1,413 false claims to be submitted to Medicaid for services that he did not provide. Gurban allegedly failed to provide home health aide services for Medicaid beneficiaries on hundreds of claims since he was actually out of the country or at another, unrelated job, and therefore unable to have performed any of the services. An investigation by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor determined that, as a result of the fraud, Medicaid allegedly paid out $64,125.
A separate state grand jury indictment charges Roman Abashkin, 32, of Wayne, with 24 counts of second-degree health care claims fraud and one count each of third-degree Medicaid fraud and third-degree theft by deception.
The indictment against Abashkin alleges that between June 2008 and September 2009, the defendant caused 212 fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicaid for services that he did not provide. Abashkin allegedly failed to provide home health aide services for Medicaid beneficiaries on the claims since he was actually out of the country, and therefore unable to have performed any of the services. The investigation determined that, as a result of the fraud, Medicaid allegedly paid out $6,664. Abashkin is no longer employed by Confident Care Corporation.
A third state grand jury indictment charges Semen Rybalov, 68, of Wayne, with 15 counts of second-degree health care claims fraud and one count each of third-degree Medicaid fraud and third-degree theft by deception.
The indictment alleges that between April 2008 and May 2010, Rybalov caused 45 fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicaid for services that he did not provide. An investigation by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor revealed that Rybalov was allegedly out of the country on multiple occasions in which he was purportedly providing services. As a result of the alleged fraud, Medicaid allegedly paid out $2,180.
Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi noted that two former employees of Confident Care Corporation – Anatoli Rountsev, 52, of Totowa and Naum Lavnevich, 56 of Oakland, were charged last month for allegedly committing similar crimes. Those charges are still pending.
Deputy Attorney General Jordan Mamorsky presented the case to the state grand jury. Detective Kylie Mattis and Analyst B’leia Williams coordinated the investigation.
The indictments are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Second-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $150,000 while third-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence of five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000.
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