A doctor with an office in North Arlington was sentenced today to 37 months in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, its president, and numerous associates, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Angelo Calabrese, 57, of Pine Brook, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to information charging him with one count of accepting bribes. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
Including Calabrese, 37 people – 25 of them physicians – have pleaded guilty 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. The investigation has to date recovered more than $10.5 million through forfeiture.
According to documents filed in this and other cases and statements made in court:
Calabrese admitted accepting more than $130,000 in bribes to refer at least $600,000 in lab business to BLS. From 2010 through 2013, Calabrese received over $4,500 per month from BLS through sham consulting and rental agreements.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Calabrese to serve one year of supervised release and ordered him to pay a fine of $5,000. As part of his guilty plea, Calabrese must forfeit $334,000.