The federal courthouse in Brooklyn.Credit: John Roca
ByRobert Brodskyrobert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobertUpdated May 13, 2025
A group of Long Island residents, many related or living in the same Freeport apartment complex, are ensnared in a federal lawsuit that alleges they conspired with a Manhattan law firm and a vast network of medical providers to collect millions of dollars in insurance payouts for bogus accident claims The lawsuit, filed in New York’s Eastern District by Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company last month in federal court in Brooklyn, paints a detailed picture in an alleged widespread fraud scheme that included lawyers, financiers, doctors, surgeons, radiologists and pain management specialists The unidentified Long Islanders involved in the scheme, the suit contends, were instructed by law firm employees “to fake their injuries and to receive a myriad health care services that were unnecessary, excessive, unjustified and costly and/or not causally related to the alleged accidents.”
The suit contends Long Islanders were recruited to stage slip and fall accidents, often on cracked or uneven sidewalks in Brooklyn and Queens outside of residential buildings, dating back to 2018 The Long Islanders were sent to the same Manhattan law firm which then directed them to select medical providers who would inflate or falsify their treatment needs to boost a potential lawsuit payout, the suit contends
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDA federal lawsuitcontends that Long Islanders from Freeport and Oceanside conspired with doctors and lawyers to stage fake accidents to secure multimillion dollar payments.Court papers painta detailed picture of Long Island’s role in an alleged fraud scheme that included attorneys, financiers, doctors, surgeons, radiologists and pain management specialists.Some of the LongIslanders allegedly involved in the scheme are related and a number of them live in the same Freeport apartment complex, court papers say None of the defendants named in the suit have been criminally charged From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you By clicking Sign up, you agree to ourprivacy policy
In several instances, the victims who allegedly staged accidents received nearly identical treatments and received operative reports from doctors justifying the need for spinal and back surgeries that appear to have been copy and pasted verbatim from dozens of similar cases, the suit contends Dan Johnston, a Merrick-based attorney representing Union Mutual, said the Long Islanders who staged the accidents are among the least culpable components of the scheme — often receiving less money but forced to bear the permanent scars from unneeded surgeries “These are very often people who are desperate,” he said “None of these people entered into this as someone who was well off
This seems like a way to gain financial security that they do not have They don’t have college degrees They very often have grade school educations And they have buddies who they see have done this and have made real money.”
The lawsuit names the Liakas law firm in Manhattan and its managing partner Dean Liakas; Total Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, with four Long Island locations; New York Sports and Joints Orthopedic Specialists in Manhattan; Gotham Neurosurgery in Brooklyn; Hudson Regional Hospital in New Jersey; Precision Accelerad, a Manhattan-based radiology firm; Lenox Hill Radiology, with 19 locations in Nassau and Suffolk and Pain Management NYC and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, which each have multiple locations in the five boroughs
Also named in the suit are a dozen individual physicians and Prime Case Funding, a Delaware company that provided cash advances to the Long Islanders who allegedly staged the accidents that was used to fund their medical treatment needs.
Source: Newsday_Com
