New York's 8 Most-Brazen Insurance Fraudsters Chosen for 2020

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ALBANY, N.Y. (12/16/2020) (readMedia)-- Fake slip-and-fall injuries defraud innocent businesses, a home burns for $1 million, addicted patients are prescribed strong pain pills for insurance profit.

Witness insurance fraud, another costly pandemic in New York. The Empire State's eight most-brazen insurance fraudsters of 2020 were inducted into the Insurance Fraud Legion of Shame. They were elected by the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud.

The extreme schemes shine public attention on the extensive damage that insurance fraud imposes on honest New Yorkers upstate, downstate and everywhere in between. Consumers pay higher insurance premiums as fraud pass-along costs. Fraud victims can find their credit is damaged, and savings depleted. Scams even can jeopardize people's health.

The Legion of Shame also reminds New Yorkers of the best fraud pandemic vaccine: stay alert and avoid scams.

Fired-up fraud. Deeply in debt, Barry Goldstein torched his home for $1.3 million of insurance. The Albany-area man even claimed possessions he didn't own. State sentence: pending.

Slip and stumble. Hundreds of homeless people were coached to fake $31.7 million of painful slips and falls on sidewalks of New York City. Bryan Duncan's ring made false claims against innocent businesses. Federal sentence: 80 months in state prison.

Lifeless life murders. Karl Karlsen kicked a jack from under a truck his son Levi was repairing, crushing him. The then-Seneca County man falsely claimed $707,000 of life insurance. Karlsen also trapped his wife Christina in their burning house for $200,000, this time in California. State sentences: Life without parole.

Addicted to money. Dr. Eugene Gosy ran one of New York's largest pain practices. The Buffalo-area doctor handed out pain pills to addicted patients, let unqualified staff prescribe addictive pills, and even billed for times he was out of the country. State sentence: 70 months.

Pills for profit. Addicted himself, Dr. Tameshwar Ammar illegally prescribed more than 19,000 pain pills to a drug dealer to sell on the streets, and to an addicted patient who overdosed and died. The Long Island doctor's federal sentence: pending.

Bogus billing. Dr. Spyros Panos was serving jail time for unneeded and phantom surgeries in an insurance scam. Yet the Poughkeepsie man kept stealing - from his jail cell. Panos falsely billed $860,000 to review workers compensation cases ... even though his medical license was revoked. Federal sentence: pending.

Compound con. Bus drivers with the Metropolitan Transit Authority in NYC were bribed to obtain $8.8 million of expensive, overpriced compound medicines they didn't even need. Everyone made money from defrauding the transport system's health plan. Christine Myers led the scam. Federal sentence: pending.

Psychiatric shakedown. Muhammad Cheema was a psychiatrist who billed for 5,000 fake sessions worth more than $813,000 in the Rochester area. Cheem billed for treating 30 or more patients per day, forged medical records and prescribed drugs without examining patients. Federal sentence: 18 months.