Former Plainview business owner indicted in health care scheme that allegedly falsely billed Medicare for $22 million
The federal courthouse in Brooklyn. Credit: John Roca
A former Long Island business owner was arrested Tuesday in Florida on charges that he orchestrated a $22 million health care fraud scheme in which he allegedly targeted elderly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, prosecutors said.
Oleg Beretsky, 67, of Naples, Florida, was charged in an indictment with conspiring to commit health care fraud, violating the federal Anti-Kickback statute, conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback statute and money laundering conspiracy.
His attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Beretsky, who previously lived in Huntington Station and was the owner of Obest, Inc., a company in Plainview, and his coconspirators allegedly engaged in a kickback and money laundering scheme from January 2017 to April 2024, prosecutors said.
The scheme billed more than $22 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, which paid more than $12.4 million of those claims, prosecutors said.
Obest claimed to provide clients assistance with billing, consulting and other support services to health care professionals, prosecutors said.
"In reality, Obest’s principal business consisted of referring elderly Medicare patients to doctors and other health care professionals in exchange for kickbacks and bribes," prosecutors said in a news release.
Prosecutors said many of the alleged victims of the scheme were immigrants from the former Soviet Union who Beretsky allegedly found through a nonprofit organization that provides housing assistance to senior citizens in Queens and Brooklyn.
Beretsky "cultivated relationships with many of these patients, which he used to gain control over decisions regarding their health care providers," prosecutors said.
"As alleged, elderly individuals trusted the defendant to help them with their health care decisions. Rather than look out for the interests of some of the most vulnerable members of our community, he sold access to those who trusted him to the highest bidder," Eastern District United States Attorney John J. Durham said in a statement.
"The defendant compounded his crimes by encouraging doctors and health care providers who became part of his scheme to cheat Medicare by billing for work that was not needed or never performed," Durham said.
Beretsky will be arraigned on the indictment at a later date, prosecutors said. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment Tuesday on the status of charges against Beretsky's alleged coconspirators.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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