Crime

Car Accident? That'll be $100M. Don't Worry, We'll Bill You For It.

They made the insurance companies one too many offers they couldn't refuse.

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Intercity caravanHad a car accident and get hit with high insurance bills? You might want to blame the mob. Two large schemes took advantage of New Jersey and New York’s no-fault laws to rake in $100M over the last few years. You could buy at least three NFTs with that!

[The] criminal enterprises would bribe police dispatchers and health care workers for information about car accident victims, who they connected with crooked doctors that performed unneeded medical procedures, officials said in a news release. The gangs would then overbill insurance companies to exploit automobile insurance laws in New York and New Jersey that require them to pay for victim’s medical bills in certain situations.

The fraudsters had a bunch of working parts who got their share of the change — police dispatchers who took bribes in exchange for info on car accident victims, a lawyer who laundered money and tried to keep the law off the trail, a paralegal at an injury law firm, even doctors who made up injuries and would perform superfluous (even painful) procedures on patients. As if I needed another reason to be wary of white coats!

A quick thing from a person who likes to think of themselves as frugal. I mostly depend on my bike and public transportation to get where I’d like to go. And while I can’t deny that it must be pretty convenient to drive wherever you want without reliance on Megabus, do us all a favor by paying attention to the road instead of your phone when you’re driving. While these rings were cut, there are probably other officers, lawyers, and doctors willing to swoop in and fill the vacuum.  And guess who is about due for a checkup! Healthcare already costs an arm an a leg without these insurance schemes inflating costs. Let’s not make it worse by bumping into each other on the road, shall we?

Feds Bust Doctors, Law Firm Workers, NYPD Officer In $100M Fraud Scheme [NY Post]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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