Olga Popovych, a Brooklyn clinic manager, has been convicted by a federal jury for her involvement in an $8 million health care fraud conspiracy. Popovych managed several physical therapy clinics in Brooklyn that engaged in a scheme to pay cash kickbacks to ambulette drivers who recruited Medicare patients for transport to the facilities. The verdict followed a one-week trial before United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall.
As proven during the trial, Popovych was directly involved in distributing cash kickbacks to ambulette drivers. She also falsified medical records, indicating that physical therapists who were not present at the clinic had treated patients. Between 2018 and 2020, Medicare disbursed over $8 million to these clinics as a result of the fraudulent activities. Evidence presented included text messages with co-conspirators discussing kickback payments using code words, and steps Popovych took to conceal the scheme, suspecting law enforcement surveillance.
Popovych was found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to make false statements relating to health care matters, four counts of health care fraud, and three counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. She faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each health care fraud conviction and five years for each false statements count upon sentencing. The case was investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI.
This conviction aligns with broader efforts to combat fraud, including the Justice Department’s recently created National Fraud Enforcement Division and President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which targets waste and abuse in federal benefit programs.