This month, a major Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case was filed against a New York City personal injury law firm and dozens of medical providers, alleging a wide-ranging scheme to defraud insurers through staged construction accidents and fraudulent medical treatments since 2018. Insurance Journal had the story: 

“The complaint filed June 16 in the Eastern District of New York targets the law firm of William Schwitzer & Associates, P.C. and its principals William Schwitzer and Giovani Merlino, along with physicians, chiropractors, and other medical providers who allegedly conspired to recruit construction workers — many of whom the lawsuit says were undocumented — to stage or exaggerate workplace injuries. These workers were then referred to various allegedly complicit clinics to undergo what the suit claims were unnecessary and invasive medical procedures, including surgeries, in order to inflate personal injury and workers’ compensation claims.” 

“Among the defendants being sued are 30 medical practices for orthopedics, radiology, pain management, and acupuncture. [The defendants] are alleged to have all operated from the same address located at 410 Ditmas Ave. in Brooklyn, which the complaint describes as a hub for fraudulent referrals and treatments.”

“The suit alleges that ‘persons of unknown citizenship’ participated in the fraudulent scheme by recruiting construction workers into staging and perpetuating fake construction accidents at various construction sites throughout New York.”

“According to the complaint, the Schwitzer defendants, through the runners or others under their control, directed the claimants to certain associated medical providers who understood the fraud scheme. They would provide documents for the claimant construction workers attesting to their alleged workplace accident and associated injuries. Those documents would be submitted with workers’ compensation and general liability claims to seek reimbursement for medical expenses, indemnity payments, settlement demands. Due to the strict nature of New York’s workers’ compensation and the New York Labor Law such demands often succeed, the suit.”

The prevalence of these ever-increasing RICO claims against lawyers and doctors provides further evidence of the need for reform and more transparency and disclosure in the legal system.