Brooklyn Neurologist Pleads Guilty in Health Care Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON – Leonard Langman, M.D., a neurologist who owned and operated a Brooklyn, N.Y., medical clinic pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare; the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP); the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (NYS-WCB); the New York State Insurance Fund (SIF) and various private health insurance carriers, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.  

Dr. Langman pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto in Brooklyn to one count of health care fraud. 

According to court documents, from January 2006 to December 2009, Dr. Langman caused false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare, OWCP, NYC-WCB, SIF and others.  Langman submitted claims for services that were not provided; misrepresented the services he provided by billing for a level of service higher than that which he performed; double-billed different health care benefit programs for the same service provided to the same beneficiary; and billed for services purportedly performed when he was out of the country.

At sentencing, Dr. Langman faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.  Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 2, 2011. 

The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch for the Eastern District of New York and Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas O’Donnell of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Hayes of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  HHS-OIG, the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General and the New York State Workers Compensation Board, Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.  The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Since their inception in March 2007, Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,000 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2.3 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers .

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to stopmedicarefraud.gov.