Holbrook businessman arrested on stolen goods charge

A Long Island businessman whose Holbrook company that said it had pioneered an innovative CT scan system for horses was arrested at his Sands Point home last week on a single count of transporting stolen goods.

George Papaioannou, a U.K. citizen whose family is living in Greece, pleaded not guilty to the charge and is being held at Suffolk County's Yaphank Correctional Facility as a flight risk, according to court papers.

At a virtual court hearing Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Argo said the case involved Papaioannou’s shipment of two robotic arms for the CT scan system valued at $185,000.

Papaioannou's Four Dimensional Digital Imaging company has promoted a CT scan system that allows images to be taken when horses are standing or moving.

The company is fighting at least two civil lawsuits alleging breach of contract, along with other allegations.

In court responses, the company has denied those charges.

During the federal court conference Tuesday, Papaioannou said little other than to request a new attorney for a trial that could begin as soon as June.

"At least having a less busy lawyer until then might improve my case of defending myself which I want to do properly," he said.

A friend and consultant who was also on the conference call said Papaioannou also had a March court date related to an attempt to evict him from the home he had been renting in Sands Point.

Papaioannou's attorney, Tracey Gaffey of Long Island Federal Defenders, did not return a call seeking comment.

A criminal information filed last week alleged Papaioannou transferred two robotic arms central to his CT scan technology, "knowing the [arms] to have been stolen."

Argo told federal court U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley the charge involved shipment of equipment belonging to Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists, a veterinary facility for horses near Belmont Park, "from his facility in Holbrook … " to a facility at Purdue University in Indiana.

Argo called the charge, "just one part of a much bigger case."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District, John Marzulli, declined to comment.

Papaioannou and his companies, Equine Imaging and Four Dimensional Digital Imaging, were sued in 2018 in federal court in Manhattan by the Dubai Equine Hospital.

The hospital alleged breach of contract, unjust enrichment, conversion and fraud.

The hospital in court papers alleged Papaioannou’s 4DDI, as it also is known, "falsely represented" its horse-scanning machines were "commercially viable" and "unlike any other on the market" at the time the hospital agreed to buy one in 2015 for $995,000.

After Dubai Equine put down deposits totaling more than $546,000, the scanner wasn’t delivered, the suit alleges.

In a separate complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court in 2017, University Veterinary Specialists of Pittsburgh filed suit against Papaioannou and his companies alleging "critical representations" about his scanner "were not true."

UVS said Papaioannou "failed to deliver a machine" by the promised date in September 2016, and sued for return of its $200,000 deposit.

A June 2016 article in the trade magazine BloodHorse indicated the CT scan system was demonstrated on a horse named Marble, noting the horse "remained standing throughout the scan."

A video that accompanies the article features Papaioannou touting the system and quotes experts saying it had achieved the "holy grail" of horse imaging, which normally involves sedation and restraining of horses.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.