On Thursday, Geoffrey S. Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, unsealed an indictment of two Orange County, New York chiropractors and two additional people who work in their office, accusing them of defrauding Medicare of more than $80 million.
The two chiropractors, James “Jay” Spina, 59, and his brother Jeffrey Spina, 56, are longtime Scientologists who have been big supporters of the Scientology front group Foundation for a Drug-Free World, which we’ve told you for years spends its time infiltrating New York City schools with the help of the NYPD.
The Spina brothers have worked as chiropractors in Middletown, New York for many years. They called their clinic Spina Chiropractic — which was listed as a World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) business in 1999 — then Dolson Avenue Medical until it was raided last year by the FBI and changed its name to Pain Relief and Wellness Center.
WISE is a Scientology front organization that targets chiropractors, dentists, and veterinarians with L. Ron Hubbard’s business administration ideas as a way to bring them into the church itself.
According to Scientology’s own publications, Jay Spina went “Clear” in 1990, did the expensive L10-L12 Rundowns at the Flag Land Base in 1990-91, finished OT 7 in 2003, and completed the “Havingness Rundown” just last year. His brother Jeffrey went Clear in 1990, did the L’s in 1990-91, OT 3 in 1994, and the Purification Rundown (again) last year.
In a photo on their clinic’s website, the Spina brothers posed with a plaque and talked about their company’s involvement in Scientology’s Drug-Free World front…
Dolson Avenue Medical has partnered with drugfreeworld.org to educate people on the myths and facts of drugs and drug abuse, so people are better informed to make the right decisions about their future. Educational booklets are distributed to about 3000 teachers and students every year at the Y2Kids Career day, with a total of 25,000 booklets handed out in the past 5 years.
Until recently, the Drug-Free World New York Chapter listed Dr. Jay Spina as its Orange County Director.
That organization, which has renamed itself the Americas Chapter of Drug-Free World, is run by Queens dentist Bernard Fialkoff and his daughter Meghan. They won Scientology’s highest honor, the Freedom Medal, at the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) gala in 2016…
Speaking of the IAS, in 2010 Jay Spina was listed as a “Patron With Honors” donor for having given a total of at least $100,000. He was also listed as a $35,000 donor to Scientology’s “Super Power” Building project.
In other words, the Spina brothers are about as involved in Scientology as you can get, and have been for many, many years.
They’ve each been charged with one count of conspiring to commit health care fraud and one count of health care fraud, which each carry maximum sentences of 10 years in prison. Two people who work in their office — bookkeeper Andrea Grossman, 59, and Jeffrey and Jay’s sister Kim Spina, 54 — have also been charged with those counts. The Spina brothers have also been charged with a count of obstructing a federal audit, carrying a maximum penalty of five years.
A physician associated with their clinic, Charles Bagley, 69, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and is facing 10 years in prison.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, the Spinas conspired to overcharge Medicare through the use of their clinic, Dolson Avenue Medical (DAM), and several other “Associated Businesses” that they controlled.
[The Spina brothers] went to great lengths to conceal their control and ownership of DAM and the Associated Businesses. In particular, JAMES SPINA and JEFFREY SPINA recruited medical doctors and other professionals to serve as the nominee owners of DAM and the Associated Businesses. JAMES SPINA and JEFFREY SPINA further concealed their ownership of DAM and the Associated Businesses by transferring revenues of these companies into other companies they owned. To further disguise these transfers, JAMES SPINA and JEFFREY SPINA drafted fake lease and marketing agreements between DAM and the Associated Businesses and purported real estate and marketing companies they owned and referred to the payments as “rent” or “marketing fees.” The defendants also used phony and non-existent addresses for the corporations so that it would appear that DAM and the Associated Businesses were operating out of separate locations.
Investigating the alleged scam drew on the resources of several different federal and state agencies. “An alleged theft of this magnitude is appalling when so many hard-working people experience rising health care costs. Now, their alleged scams have been exposed, thanks to my partnership with U.S. Attorney Berman, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office,” said New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
But the Spina brothers are not folding their tent. Their attorneys told the Times Herald-Record in Middletown that they would keep their clinic open and continue working, even as they face trial for fraud.
“Dr. Jay Spina pled not guilty, and we’re going to continue to fight these charges,” the newspaper was told by White Plains attorney Michael Burke. Goshen attorney James Monroe, who represents Jeffrey Spina, said that his client “remains committed to practicing chiropractic and taking good care of his patients.”
Hey, that’s the Hubbard spirit.
Here’s the indictment itself…
James and Jeffrey Spina Indictment by Tony Ortega on Scribd
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MEANWHILE, AT FACEBOOK…
Please join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
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Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,225 days.
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Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,282 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,388 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,791 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,662 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,245 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,750 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 1,994 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,103 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 2, 2018 at 07:00
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