Holmdel Man Sentenced To Jail For Role In Doc Kickback Scheme

HOLMDEL, NJ — A Holmdel man was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme and for evading taxes, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig.

Igor Fleyshmakher, 59, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to violate the federal anti-kickback statute and tax evasion.

He was co-owner of Prime Aid Union City, part of Prime Aid Pharmacies, which have now closed. They processed expensive medications used to treat various conditions including Hepatitis C, Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

The scheme Fleyshmakher was a part of involved paying bribes to health care professionals and evading taxes on $33.9 million in income, Honig said.

Starting in 2010, to get a higher volume of prescriptions, Fleyshmakher and others who were also part of the scheme paid bribes to doctors and doctors’ employees in New Jersey to steer prescriptions to the Prime Aid Pharmacies.

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The bribes included expensive meals, designer bags, and payments by cash, check, and wire transfers.

In his plea, Fleyshmakher agreed that the profits from the scheme totaled between $3.5 million and $9.5 million.

He also transferred Prime Aid Union City income into a secret bank account that he opened and controlled, Honig said. In total, he diverted $33.9 million of income into the secret account, all of which he failed to report to the IRS.

He hid that account from the pharmacy’s tax preparers and did not report any of the funds he deposited into it on his personal income tax returns. This resulted in a $5.8 million tax loss to the IRS between 2012 and 2014.

In addition to the prison term, Judge U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp sentenced Fleyshmakher to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $5.8 million in restitution and a $100,000 fine.

The Prime Aid Pharmacie operated as “specialty pharmacies” out of locations in Union City, New Jersey, and Bronx, New York.

Samuel “Sam” Khaimov, Yana Shtindler and Ruben Sevumyants, who worked in and operated Prime Aid Union City pharmacies, were charged together with health care fraud offenses and violations of the anti-kickback statute, Honig said.

A few other people have pleaded guilty for their respective roles in the kickback and bribery scheme: Joel Grimshaw, a former Prime Aid sales representative, Yudelka “Vicky” Ayala, a doctor’s employee who received over $200,000 in bribes and kickbacks, and Alex Fleyshmakher, who worked at Prime Aid Union City and was an owner of Prime Aid Bronx.

Eddy Shtindler, a Prime Aid Union City employee, also pleaded guilty for his role in a related kickback conspiracy. They have not yet been sentenced.