Lesson Not Learned: Chiropractors in NJ Commit Fraud Again
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by: DrTirpak posted: October 28, 2012
Drs. Charles Nisivoccia and Craig Klein are good at what they do, too bad it’s not chiropractic. The two chiropractors have pled guilty again to insurance fraud.
The first conviction dates back to May 2003. Dr. Charles Nisivoccia and Dr. Craig Klein pleaded guilty to paying a runner to refer patients to their Clifton New Jersey chiropractic clinic. They each were fined $25,000 and allowed to keep their Chiropractic licenses in New Jersey.
Their second conviction in 2006 stemmed from the same scheme of paying runners for patients that were involved in auto accidents, some of them staged. In 2003 their first year in the new office they billed over $400,000 in insurance claims. After pleading guilty to two counts of filing false motor vehicle insurance claims and two counts of conspiracy they both lost their Chiropractic licenses for 5 years, were forced to pay over $15,000 in fines each to the New Jersey Chiropractic Board, 90 days in jail (2 years suspended) and 500 hours of community service.
The terms for such light sentence resulted form the Chiropractors’ attorneys arguing that another Chiropractor, Dr. Alan Cohen, also busted in their fraud scheme billed over $3 million one year and only received 3 months in jail after pleading guilty.
This time they set up an illegal clinic, Hamilton Rehabilitation Center. Since neither had a license to practice chiropractic in New Jersey they disguised their ownership in the clinic using another doctor illegal under New Jersey state law . Once again Dr. Craig Klein and Dr. Charles Nisivoccia pleaded guilty, this time to theft by deception for submitting charges for fraudulent PIP (personal injury protection) claims to more than 30 auto insurance companies. This time they had some help, Chiropractor Marco Esposito, worked with the convicted chiropractor and pled guilty to the same charges.
Dr. Craig Klein arranged a plea agreement that includes probation and no jail time. Sentencing information for Dr. Charles Nisivoccia has not been released yet.