Long Island Attorney, Doctor Duo Convicted In Staged Trip-And-Fall Scheme

NEW YORK, NY — An attorney and an orthopedic surgeon from Long Island have been convicted in a massive New York City-based trip-and-fall fraud scheme in which vulnerable patients — those "overwhelmingly poor and desperate"— agreed to unnecessary surgeries," federal prosecutors said.

The patients were recruited from homeless shelters and often suffered from drug and alcohol addiction as well, prosecutors said, adding that they agreed to surgeries in exchange for the small payments they would receive afterward.

It was common for the patients to ask for food or money when they would appear for their intake meetings with Constantine, prosecutors said.

George Constantine, 60, of Plainview, and Andrew Dowd, 67, of Miller Place, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison.

Dowd was also found guilty of additional counts of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud.

Prosecutors say that between 2013 and 2018, the pair, among others, took part in an extensive fraud scheme, in which patients were recruited to stage trip-and-fall accidents and then undergo medically unnecessary surgeries to increase the value of the fraudulent personal injury lawsuits against the owners of the accident sites and/or insurance companies.

During the scheme, Constantine and Dowd together with others known and unknown, tried to defraud the victims of more than $31 million, according to prosecutors.

Constantine and Dowd relied upon a team of runners who were paid cash kickbacks by Constantine to recruit the patients to stage or falsely claim they had suffered trip-and-fall accidents at specific locations throughout the New York City area, prosecutors said.

Common accident sites used during the fraud scheme included cellar doors, cracks in concrete sidewalks, and purported potholes in front of commercial buildings, like gas stations, diners, and other businesses, according to prosecutors.

After the staged accidents, the patients were told to go to the hospital to obtain discharge papers and then were then brought to Constantine’s office, by the carloads, where they met with him briefly, and then he would uniformly accept their case, prosecutors said.

Constantine failed to ask even the most basic questions during the intake process, including the locations of the purported accidents, but then would file fraudulent lawsuits, under penalty of perjury, on behalf of the patients, according to prosecutors.

In the scheme, Constantine filed nearly 200 fraudulent lawsuits and earned over $5 million in settlement fees from the fraudulent cases, prosecutors said.

After the patients’ meeting with Constantine, the patients were driven to various medical appointments, including visits with chiropractors, physical therapists, and to obtain MRIs, all of which were designed to justify the surgical procedures on their knees, shoulders, and backs that patients were required to have as part of the scheme, according to prosecutors.

The patients were driven to meet with Dowd who would perform arthroscopic knee and shoulder surgeries on them within one-to-two weeks of first meeting them, prosecutors said, adding that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks for these patient referrals.

Dowd did not examine the patients and fabricated his medical reports to make it seem like they were injured, when in reality they were not, prosecutors said, adding that to incentivize the patients into having surgery, they were paid about $1,000 after the operation was complete.

In the scheme, Dowd performed nearly 300 medically unnecessary surgeries and earned over $3.2 million, prosecutors said, adding, that Dowd received about $10,000 per surgery.

The surgeries, as well as the other medical procedures, were funded by litigation funding companies, including a funding company owned by co-conspirator Adrian Alexander, even when the patient maintained medical coverage through an insurance company or a government-subsidized program, prosecutors said.

The funding companies also paid the fraud scheme organizers and participants referral fees, typically $1,000 to $2,500, for each patient who signed a funding agreement, prosecutors said, adding that in exchange for funding patients’ medical and legal costs, the funding companies charged them high-interest rates.

The interest rates were so high that oftentimes the majority of the proceeds that were awarded in the fraudulent lawsuits were paid to the funding companies, Constantine, and other scheme participants, with the patients receiving a much smaller percentage of the remaining recovery, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the unanimous jury verdict holds the pair "accountable for their participation in a widespread fraud scheme that preyed upon poor, vulnerable, and at times, homeless individuals."

"These individuals were recruited to stage trip and fall accidents and undergo medically unnecessary surgeries performed by Dowd that were designed to increase the value of fraudulent personal injury lawsuits filed by Constantine," he said. "Constantine and Dowd abused their professional licenses, degrees, and titles to line their own pockets with millions of dollars, and they now face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences for their crimes.”

Co-conspirators Marc Elefant, Sady Ribeiro, Adrian Alexander, Kerry Gordon, and Peter Kalkanis previously pled guilty for their involvement in the same trip-and-fall fraud scheme. Co-conspirators Bryan Duncan, Ryan Rainford, and Robert Locust were convicted at trial in May 2019 also.

Constantine and Dowd will be sentenced on March 21.

Patch reached out to the U.S. Attorney's office for the names of Constantine and Dowd's attorneys but they were not immediately available