Former Brooklyn Bank Manager Sentenced For Laundering $8 Million In Medicare Fraud Proceeds For Russian Criminal Organization
Concierge banker opened accounts for sham medical equipment companies, funneled stolen healthcare dollars overseas
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A former bank relationship manager who used his position to launder more than $8 million in Medicare fraud proceeds for a Russian-based transnational criminal organization was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Tuesday, federal prosecutors announced.
Renat Abramov, 37, of Brooklyn, who worked at a U.S. bank branch in the Sheepshead Bay section, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors said Abramov acted as a “concierge banker” for participants in what the Justice Department has called the largest health care fraud case ever prosecuted — uncovered by Operation Gold Rush.
The transnational criminal organization, based in Russia and elsewhere, orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar scheme to steal from Medicare and private insurance companies by submitting fraudulent claims for durable medical equipment through dozens of shell companies. Those companies were owned on paper by nominee owners — many of whom were not lawfully present in the United States — in an arrangement designed to hide the true beneficial ownership and control by the foreign-based criminal network, according to court documents.
Abramov leveraged his position at the bank to open accounts for the nominee owners of several medical equipment companies, which were then used to deposit more than $8 million in health care fraud proceeds. Once the money was deposited, the nominee owners and their handlers transferred the funds into offshore accounts, prosecutors said. Abramov also assisted the nominee owners with wire transactions and provided status updates on the accounts.
“Anyone who helps fraudsters conceal the proceeds of their crimes can expect to face serious consequences,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “American taxpayers will be protected from those who try to launder criminal proceeds through our banking system.”
Pharmacy Owner Who Bragged About ‘Free Money’ and Plied Doctors With Strip Clubs Gets 30 Months for $620K Fraud
Technician also sentenced to 24 months in separate scheme that bilked Medicare and private insurers out of more than $1.1 million combined
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A pharmacy owner who boasted in text messages that billing his own insurance for unneeded medications was “basically free money” and described plying doctors with strip club outings, nightclub trips, and cash to keep them “as corrupt as possible” was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison Tuesday for a scheme that defrauded health insurers of more than $620,000, prosecutors said.
Kirtan S. Patel, 34, of Allentown, New Jersey, a lawful permanent resident originally from India, owned a pharmacy in Jersey City. In November 2020, Patel caused falsified documents to be submitted to a health insurance company in response to an audit, falsely representing that medical providers had authorized certain prescriptions when they had not, according to court documents. He also submitted fraudulent prescription pick-up records that falsely showed customers had collected medications they never received.
During the scheme, Patel sent text messages to a friend in which he candidly described his practices. “I bill around 8-10k every month to my own insurance,” he wrote, adding that he did not “take any medications so that’s basically free money.” He also detailed how he corrupted physicians with lavish entertainment, texting that he took doctors to “strip clubs,” “night clubs,” and gave them “cash” to keep them “as corrupt as possible.”
Patel was ordered to pay over $620,000 in restitution and an additional $620,000 in forfeiture.
In a parallel case, Christopher Lugo, 36, of Jersey City, a pharmacy technician who worked at Patel’s pharmacy, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for his own fraudulent activities. In January 2020, Lugo submitted, or caused the submission of, a fraudulent claim to his own health insurer for a drug he was not prescribed and that was never dispensed to him. The technician caused over $565,000 in losses to health insurance companies and Medicare, according to court documents.
Lugo was ordered to pay over $565,000 in restitution.
Both men pleaded guilty in April 2025 — Patel to making false statements relating to health care matters, and Lugo to health care fraud. The combined losses from the two separate schemes totaled more than $1.18 million, with insurers and federal health programs absorbing the costs.
The sentencings close a case that laid bare the brazenness of insider fraud within the pharmaceutical supply chain, with a pharmacy owner not only fleecing insurers through bogus claims and forged documents but openly corrupting medical professionals to sustain the operation, prosecutors said.
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