Feds: Levittown chiropractor settles workers' comp fraud allegations

A Levittown chiropractor has paid $290,197.24 to the federal government to settle civil allegations of workers' compensation fraud, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege that Gary Stein, a licensed chiropractor, falsely claimed to have examined a patient and then billed workers' comp for the non-existent office visits. Stein was not charged criminally.

"In billing for medical services he didn’t provide to his patient, the defendant defrauded a taxpayer-funded program designed to assist federal employees who are disabled by on-the-job injuries," Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Jacquelyn M. Kasulis said in a statement. "This Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to protecting taxpayer-funded programs from fraud and abuse."

Prosecutors said that an investigation conducted by the inspector generals for the U.S. Department of Labor and the United States Postal Service, found that from 2014 to 2019, Stein routinely claimed to have conducted detailed examinations of the patient, when no such examinations were performed.

Reached Wednesday, Stein referred questions to his attorney. Defense attorney Kenneth Abell, in a statement, cast blame on the government for what he said were apparent "inaccurate and ill-informed" billing instructions relayed to his client.

"For many years, Dr. Stein sought instructions from the Department of Labor on the correct way to bill for his only federal Worker’s Compensation patient," Abell said. "The responses he received from DOL were, apparently, inaccurate and ill-informed. Dr. Stein does not admit to any wrongdoing in connection with this matter, which relates to a single patient, and elected to resolve it so he can continue to focus on providing quality care."

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.