GEICO sues New York pharmacies and individuals over alleged $2.5 million insurance fraud


Margo Brodie, Chief Judge with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York | Administrative Office of the United States Courts | Wikipedia Commons

Major insurance company GEICO has filed a lawsuit against several entities and individuals for allegedly orchestrating a large-scale insurance fraud scheme.

GEICO names Tree of Life Rx Inc., Simho Aronov, EBA Drug Corp. (doing business as Fine Care Pharmacy), Olga Alkada (also known as Olga Ballas), Nicola Houslin, NP, and several unidentified John Does as defendants. The lawsuit details an operation that exploited New York's "No-Fault" insurance system. GEICO accuses the defendants of submitting over $2.5 million in fraudulent pharmaceutical claims over twenty-two months. These claims were related to expensive topical prescription drugs dispensed without genuine patient care consideration. According to GEICO, the defendants used collusive relationships to funnel large volumes of unnecessary prescriptions to Tree of Life Rx and Fine Care Pharmacy, allowing them to submit fraudulent claims.

GEICO alleges that these pharmacies appeared legitimate but were actually part of an integrated scheme exploiting patients for financial gain. They targeted two specific products: Fraudulent Topical Lidocaine and Fraudulent Diclofenac Gel, resulting in charges between $1,524 and $1,888 per prescription. These products were dispensed under fraudulent protocols designed to exploit patients financially.

The complaint states that this fraudulent activity began in early 2023 when the defendants became involved with a network regularly engaged in No-Fault insurance fraud. This network facilitated illegal arrangements, generating large volumes of fraudulent pharmaceutical claims billed to GEICO and other insurers.

GEICO seeks recovery of approximately $177,000 already paid out due to this scheme and requests a declaration from the court stating they are not obligated to pay an additional $2.1 million in pending fraudulent claims submitted by the defendants.

The plaintiff is represented by attorneys Michael A. Sirignano, Barry I. Levy, and Joanna Rosenblatt of Rivkin Radler LLP. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York under Case ID 1:25-cv-02142.

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