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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Illinois
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Two North Suburban Doctors Charged as Part of Largest National Medicare Fraud Takedown in History

CHICAGO — Two north suburban doctors have been charged as part of the largest national Medicare fraud takedown in history, federal authorities announced today.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced the unprecedented nationwide sweep that resulted in criminal and civil charges against 301 individuals, including 61 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $900 million in false billings.  Twenty-three state Medicaid Fraud Control Units participated in the takedown.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is suspending payment to a number of providers using its suspension authority provided in the Affordable Care Act.  This coordinated takedown is the largest in history, both in terms of the number of defendants charged and the loss amount.    
“As this takedown should make clear, health care fraud is not an abstract violation or benign offense – it is a serious crime,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “The wrongdoers that we pursue in these operations seek to use public funds for private enrichment.  They target real people – many of them in need of significant medical care.  They promise effective cures and therapies, but they provide none.  Above all, they abuse basic bonds of trust – between doctor and patient; between pharmacist and doctor; between taxpayer and government – and pervert them to their own ends.  The Department of Justice is determined to continue working to ensure that the American people know that their health care system works for them – and them alone.”
Two registered Illinois physicians were charged as part of the investigations, announced Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. 
DR. YEVGENY ODESSKY, a physician with an office in Buffalo Grove, took cash kickbacks in exchange for referring patients to a home health care agency in the north suburbs, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in federal court in Chicago.  Unbeknownst to Dr. Odessky, the owner of the agency was cooperating with federal authorities and had agreed to secretly record meetings with Dr. Odessky, according to the complaint.  In one recorded meeting in Dr. Odessky’s clinic on April 26, 2014, Dr. Odessky agreed to accept $300 for each Medicare beneficiary he referred to the agency, according to the complaint.  Speaking in Russian, Dr. Odessky is heard on the recording laughing while telling the agency owner, “Public Aid will choke,” according to the complaint.
Dr. Odessky, 66, of Highland Park, is charged with one count of violating the federal Medicare and Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  A preliminary hearing in federal court in Chicago is scheduled for July 11, 2016, at 1:00 p.m.
DR. ZOYA KOSMAN, a physician with an office in Skokie, allegedly caused the submission of false medical evidence to help a claimant obtain federal disability benefits to which the claimant was not entitled.  Dr. Kosman knowingly lied about the claimant’s complaints, symptoms, and functional abilities in documentation submitted in support of the claimant’s application for benefits, according to an indictment returned yesterday in federal court in Chicago.
The indictment charges Dr. Kosman, 58, of Skokie, with one count of making false statements in an application for federal benefits.  The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  An arraignment in federal court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled. 
The cases announced today were investigated by the national Medicare Fraud Strike Force, whose operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team.  Since its inception in March 2007, the Strike Force has charged more than 2,900 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program more than $8.9 billion.
The Illinois cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.  The government in Dr. Odessky’s case is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathalina A. Hudson, and in Dr. Kosman’s case by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared C. Jodrey.
The national cases announced today are being prosecuted and investigated by U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide, along with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, HHS-OIG, Drug Enforcement Administration, DCIS and state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
The public is reminded that charges are not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.