Allstate Insurance is seeking to recover more than $5 millionfrom 21 New York-area defendants in its fifth insurance fraudlawsuit of 2011.
According to a release, the complaint, filed under the RacketeerInfluenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ('RICO') and New Yorkcommon law, alleges that 17 laypersons and lay entities illegallyowned and controlled three professional acupuncture corporations andused them to submit fraudulent billing to Allstate. Since 2003,Allstate has filed 33 fraud lawsuits in New York, seeking nearly$180 million in damages.
The Insurance Information Institute said the state of New York isin an insurance fraud crisis and no-fault fraud is costing NewYorkers hundreds of millions of dollars year-after-year. 'Inessence, honest, hardworking New Yorkers are paying a ' fraud tax,''said Krista Conte, spokesperson for Allstate's New York office. 'Weneed lawmakers to enact meaningful insurance reform that puts thecitizens of New York first.'
As detailed in the lawsuit, Allstate contends that professionalservice corporations were actually owned and controlled bylaypersons, rather than by licensed professionals. In addition, thelawsuit alleges that the defendants submitted or facilitated thesubmission of claims for acupuncture services through professionalcorporations that were never eligible to collect no-fault insurancebenefits. The suit contends that Points of Health Acupuncture, P.C.,Altercare Acupuncture, P.C., and Eastern Star Acupuncture, P.C. werefraudulently incorporated through a scheme using the name of alicensed acupuncturist, Anatoly Yuryev, and that Vladimir Sirota,Igor Belyansky, Ella Sushevich, Yaroslav Kotlovskiy, SvetlanaKotlovskiy, Igor Tsimmerman, Gennadiy Belzer, Hadley Benoit, VladManagement Group, L.L.C., Regional Marketing, Inc., Tristate N.Y.L.L.C., Atlantis N.Y. L.L.C., KYDS L.L.C., ITA Family, L.P., ConduitConsulting L.L.C., LGB Corp., and Queens Brook Management Co., Inc.,none of whom were licensed to practice acupuncture or operate anacupuncture practice, secretly owned and controlled the professionalcorporations.
Allstate is joined by other insurers and many New York Stateleaders in its pursuit for reform of the no-fault system. 'The no-fault system is being exploited and responsible citizens are thevictims,' Conte said. 'Without the support of lawmakers, incidentsof fraud will continue to increase. We need to work together to fixthe broken no-fault system.'
The Allstate Corp. is a publicly held personal lines insurer.
More Information:
www.allstate.com
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