A cardiologist with a practice in Paterson, and his wife pleaded guilty today to their involvement in a test-referral bribe scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, its president and numerous associates, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
According to authorities, Aiman Hamdan, 50, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to a superseding information charging him with accepting bribes in violation of the Federal Travel Act. His wife, Kristina Hamdan, 39, pleaded guilty before Judge Chesler to Counts One and Thirteen of an indictment charging her with conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Federal Travel Act and the honest services wire fraud statute, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In September 2008, Aiman Hamdan was given a $500,000 loan by BLS in exchange for his agreement to refer patient blood samples to BLS. From October 2008 through November 2008, Aiman Hamdan caused approximately $53,000 of blood samples to be referred to BLS, resulting in the lab being paid that amount by Medicare and private insurance companies.
From November 2009 through April 2013, Kristina Hamdan, a former sales employee of the lab, agreed with others to pay doctors illegal bribes in exchange for the doctors’ agreement to refer patient blood specimens to BLS. For example, Kristina Hamdan bribed Yousef Zibdie, 53, of Wayne, an internal medicine doctor with a practice in Woodland Park, in exchange for generating more than $900,000 in lab business for BLS.
The bribes were funded by BLS and, in an effort to obscure the source and nature of the payments, paid to the doctors by Kristina Hamdan through a sham entity that also paid the Hamdans’ household and personal expenses.
Aiman Hamdan faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison on the Federal Travel Act charge. Kristina Hamdan faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison on Count One of the indictment and a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison on Count Thirteen of the indictment. Each count also carries a maximum $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
As part of their guilty pleas, Aiman and Kristina Hamdan agreed to forfeit and pay back $15,000 and $1.2 million in criminal proceeds, respectively. Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for Feb. 14, 2018.
Zibdie previously pleaded guilty on June 21, 2017 and awaits sentencing.
The investigation has thus far resulted in 53 convictions – 38 of them doctors – in connection with the bribery scheme, which its organizers have admitted involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies. It is believed to be the largest number of medical professionals ever prosecuted in a bribery case.
The investigation has to date recovered more than $13 million through forfeiture. On June 28, 2016, BLS, which is no longer operational, pleaded guilty and was required to forfeit all of its assets.