Fort Lauderdale — Dr. Mark Aggressti, who claimed to have devoted his 30-year career to helping people suffering from addiction, said Thursday that he used clients to perpetuate $ 31.3 million in insurance fraud in 12 medical cases. I was convicted of fraud.
The 59-year-old psychiatrist showed no emotions, but looked back a bit as U.S. district judge Rodolfo Lewis announced the jury’s decision, which took place after about two and a half hours of deliberation after a three-week trial. I saw my wife.
Aggressti, a former psychiatric director at a former Colombian hospital in West Palm Beach, ordered thousands of medically unnecessary tests when the jury was the director of Good Decisions Sober Living. After agreeing to, you may face decades of imprisonment.
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Sentence scheduled for April 21
Residents of Palm Beach are dozens of modern people charged with the once prosperous and sober family industry in Palm Beach County.
Federal prosecutors initially sought to take Aggressi to prison to await the April 21 ruling, but they did not forgive when they learned that their father was dying in the hospice. Lewis did not believe Aggressi was in danger of flying and said he did not need to be imprisoned.
Aggressi’s lawyers, who tried to convince the jury that Aggressi had been fooled by the unscrupulous homeowner Kenneth Baylinson, said they were disappointed with the verdict.
“We felt Dr. Aggressti was not guilty,” said Richard Rubin, who represented the physician along with lawyers Greg Rosenfeld and Amy Morse. “We get together to understand what the next steps will be.”
In closing arguments on Thursday, Rosenfeld claimed that Aggressti made a mistake but did not.
“The government did a great job of proving that Dr. Aggressi was negligent and perhaps terribly negligent, but in this case it doesn’t matter,” he said.
Federal prosecutors argued that Aggressi knew exactly what Beilinson was doing, knew it was illegal, and helped him anyway.
“They are asking you to believe that the smartest person in the room, the doctor, has been fooled,” said Assistant US Attorney James Hayes.
According to Hayes, the sober house that Beilinson ran from a devastated condominium on Georgia Avenue in West Palm Beach wasn’t trying to help people overcome their addiction.
“It was used as a farm to harvest urine samples and then make money,” he said.
Profitable surgery relied on Aggressi and his prescription. Insurance companies will not pay for expensive urinalysis unless Agresti orders it.
And Aggressi ordered thousands of people during the 23 months of serving as medical director of surgery closed in September 2014 after the FBI’s assault.
Residents were tested at least three times a week. The test ordered by Aggressi was not a simple and inexpensive drug test that immediately showed if the resident had relapsed.
Instead, Aggressi ordered an expensive clinical test and asked each urine sample to be screened for as many as 80 drugs.
Bailynson testified that insurers pay about $ 300 for quick tests, while writing checks on average $ 1,500 on more comprehensive screens.
The results weren’t available for five days because the lab had to handle complex tests. Still, Agresti continued to order additional tests before the results of previous tests became available.
“It doesn’t make sense to order the second test when the results of the first test aren’t displayed, and the third test when the results of the other two tests aren’t displayed,” Hayes said. Mr. says.
According to doctors, the test blocked drug use. The prosecution says he has never read the results.
While witnessing in his own defense this week, Aggressi said the test was a deterrent. He said the inhabitants were unlikely to relapse because they knew they would be inspected on a regular basis.
He admitted that he did not confirm the test results. It was left to the teen staff of Good Decisions. Residents who tested positive were asked to move out.
Again, Hayes said Aggressi’s explanation of ordering tests and not reviewing results is unreasonable.
“It’s absurd and it doesn’t make sense for a doctor to order a test and never check the results,” he said.
Rosenfeld argued that the government proceedings were based on the testimony of those who could have gained much by testifying to Aggressi.
Beilinson, who pleaded guilty to the plot of medical fraud, easily admitted to the jury that he was witnessing to Aggressi in hopes of reducing the promised 10-year imprisonment.
Eric Snyder, a former Real Life Recovery owner, testified to Agresti, who was also the medical director of the Delray Beach Treatment Center. Snyder was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to the plot of wire fraud. He is allowed to remain free to testify to others.
“To believe that Dr. Aggressti has committed a fraud, we must believe in many who have been convicted of the fraud,” Rosenfeld told the jury.
In addition, he argued that the government carefully selected patient files and lab tests to throw Aggressi into the worst possible light. He also said that Aggressti had no financial motivation to order further tests.
Unlike Bailinson, who had $ 15 million in his pocket from the scheme, Aggressti was paid a monthly salary. The number of residents living in Good Decisions increased from 25 to nearly 250, but it was not based on the number of tests he ordered, Rosenfeld said.
Assistant US lawyer Amanda Parwin said Aggressi earned nearly $ 900,00 while working at Good Decisions in Palm Beach County and about 10 other sober homes and treatment centers.
But according to Rosenfeld, these numbers were bloated. He said his net income from his work as a medical director in various locations was $ 428,000. Of that, about $ 59,000 comes from Good Decisions.
Rosenfeld argued that Aggressti was a compassionate psychiatrist and was involved in a chaotic situation that went out of control.
“He told you, and he honestly said he was on his head,” Rosenfeld said. “He said to you,’I’m an idiot. I didn’t mean to. I wanted to help people.” “
He said such hospitalizations are difficult, especially for doctors.
But Hayes argued, and Aggressi might have sounded a warning if he realized that Beilinson was using it to make people suffering from addiction rich.
“The tragedy of this case is Dr. Aggressi,” Hayes said. “He had a lot to offer, but he didn’t.”
jmusgrave@pbpost.com
