CAMDEN — A South Jersey doctor was charged in connection with his role in a longstanding billing fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced Monday.
Morris Antebi, 68, of Long Branch, is charged with three counts of health care fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud for his alleged role in the scheme. Antebi was scheduled to appear Tuesday by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider.
The doctor, who specializes in pain management, has an office at 1907 Route 9 in Northfield, across from Northfield Community School, as well as in Cape May Court House, Vineland and Manahawkin.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Antebi owned and operated a pain-management clinic chain with locations throughout southern New Jersey. Antebi was a participating provider in Medicare, Medicaid and several private insurance plans. Between about 2014 through 2020, Antebi billed more than $24.6 million for services he purportedly provided, including billing more than $15.3 million to Medicaid and more than $8 million to Medicare.
The investigation showed that Antebi engaged in various forms of billing fraud. For example, Antebi frequently billed Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies on dates when travel records show he was overseas, including on trips to China, Israel, Turkey, Dominican Republic and across Europe, or when he was otherwise outside the state of New Jersey. Antebi billed about $230,700 to Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance plans between November 2015 and January 2020 for services he purportedly rendered while he was traveling and not in the office.
The investigation also showed that Antebi billed for excessive billings for one-day periods of time. For example, Antebi billed insurance plans for more than 24 hours’ worth of services in a one-day period of time on more than 900 occasions between 2014 and 2020. Antebi also billed insurance companies for between 12 and 23.99 hours of purported services in a one-day period of time on more than 300 occasions. On certain occasions, law enforcement surveilled Antebi on days when he left the clinics early, but nevertheless billed as though he saw many patients on those days.
Despite these high billings, individuals interviewed during the investigation stated that Antebi commonly saw them for only very brief periods of time, and he often did not perform any medical exams or evaluations during their visits. Individuals also indicated that there sometimes was no medical equipment or examination tables in the rooms at the clinics in which patients met with providers, and that patients sometimes met with providers on folding chairs in the hallway of the clinics.
The health care fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The wire fraud and mail fraud counts each carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.