A New York rehab owner spent four years slapping a doctor’s name on claims the doctor never authorized, never performed, and never even worked there to sign. The plans paid him about $12.4 million. When the physician finally confronted him, Nosson Sklar did not invent a paperwork story. He said the quiet part out loud. It was fraud. He did it “because of the money.”
On September 9, Southern District of New York prosecutors announced that Sklar, 56, also known as Nathan Sklar, had been sentenced to 38 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and forfeiture of $12,440,000. He also has to cover the doctor’s legal bills.
Sklar owned and ran a company with physical rehabilitation clinics around New York City. From at least January 2020 through about July 2024, he submitted or caused others to submit claims listing a physician prosecutors call only Victim-1 as the rendering provider. That doctor did not treat those patients. He was not on staff during the scheme. He never gave Sklar permission to bill in his name.
That is not a coding error. That is identity theft dressed up as physical therapy. Insurers do not cut multimillion-dollar checks because a clinic feels busy. They pay because a licensed physician’s credentials sit on the claim. Steal the name, and the money follows.
In July 2024 the doctor called Sklar. Twice. Sklar confessed. Not in a courtroom. Not after a raid. On the phone, to the man whose name he had been selling.
“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of this crime and our Office’s commitment to safeguarding affordable health care from fraud for all New Yorkers,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “Nosson Sklar spent years bilking health care benefit programs of millions of dollars and will now spend serious time in prison for his conduct.”
https://economiccollapse.report/rehab-boss-billed-taxpayers-for-twenty-million-using-a-ghost-doctor/