Deerfield-News.com-Deerfield Beach,Fl-BSO releasing a report indicating so far 10 have been arrested in the ongoing”Patient Brokering Kickback Scheme” including now 5 lawyers up one from the originally released information.As Deerfield-News.com reported earlier Mr Spatz of Simons and Spatz has now not only ruined his career,but has dragged the name of J Jay Simons a great Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice lawyer ,who basically gave Mr Spatz the legacy named law firm when his son Daniel became ill with Leukemia.
Mr Simons was formerly law partners with Sheldon Schlesinger the firm was Simons and Schlesinger and was in the day one fo the best personal injury and medical malpractice law firms in Fort Lauderdale. .All five of these greedy personal injury lawyers arrested and charged did know better.
10 ARRESTED IN PATIENT BROKERING SCHEME
- PIO Number: 17-9-6 BSO Case Number: 90-1505-002984
- Date: Sept. 6, 2017 Time: n/a
- Jurisdiction: Broward County
- Place of Occurrence: Various
Victim(s):
- State of Florida
Suspect(s):
Attorneys:
- Adam Hurtig, 46, male, 3/19/71, 1704 N.E. 16th Ave., Fort Lauderdale
- Alexander Kapetan, 44, male, 11/30/72, 3249 N.E. 31st Ave., Lighthouse Point
- Vincent Pravato, 48, male, 9/14/68, 10138 Laurel Road, Davie
- Steven Slootsky, 57, male, 8/20/60, 3054 N.W. 60th St., Boca Raton
- Mark Spatz, 58, male, 3/29/59, 13185 S.W. 28th Court, Davie
Solicitors:
- Joaquin Barreda, 39, male, 6/13/78, 5300 S.W. 21st Court, Plantation
- Mark Eskin, 62, male, 1/10/55, 22274 Vista Lago Drive, Boca Raton
- Richard Kist, 36, male, 7/12/81, 6246 Riverwalk Lane, #6, Jupiter
- Elvira Perchitti, 53, female, 1/31/64 & James Perchitti, 61, male, 2/13/56,1912 S.E. Hillmoor Drive, Apt. 57, Port St. Lucie
Description of Incident:
Earlier this month, five South Florida attorneys and five of their accomplices were arrested in a patient brokering scheme that earned them more than half a million dollars in profits.
Detectives from the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, who are part of BSO’s Organized Crime Unit, began investigating the case in May 2015 with the assistance of the Department of Financial Services, National Insurance Crime Bureau, the Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
The investigation undercovered several personal injury attorneys who were paying individuals to unlawfully solicit unsuspecting vehicle accident victims to make insurance claims for loss/damage or claims for personal injury protection benefits. In most cases, the attorneys paid the solicitors $500 to $1,500 per client successfully referred. The attorneys would in turn refer the accident victim to a healthcare facility in exchange for a cash kickback of $1,500 to $2,500 per patient. After the patient was brokered to the healthcare facility, the facility would provide treatment and bill the auto insurance companies for claims covered by the PIP benefits, thus defrauding the insurance companies.
From May 2015 to Dec. 2016, the group received kickbacks totaling more than $521,000.
The suspects are facing numerous charges including organized fraud, criminal solicitation and patient brokering.
INVESTIGATORS: Det. Kristy Frederick & Mike Freeley, SID OCU
THIS REPORT BY: Keyla Concepción/ PIO 9/20/17 1620
