SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY – New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang announced the sentencing of Peter Adamczak, a licensed chiropractor working in East Meadow, Long Island, who submitted over $1 million in false claims to a private healthcare company. Having previously pled guilty to Health Care Fraud on August 15, 2023, Adamczak was yesterday sentenced to a term of one year and a day in prison. As part of this sentence, Adamczak was ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution and to forfeit over $180,000. 

“Health insurance fraud is not a victimless crime as it increases the cost of coverage for those who need it most and wastes precious medical resources,” said Inspector General Lang. “I want to thank the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace for delivering justice on this case and to the OIG staff who worked on exposing this audacious scheme.” 

“Today’s sentence demonstrates that Adamczak’s long-running scheme, in which he brazenly submitted false and fraudulent billing claims to an insurance provider, ultimately came at a personal cost to the defendant,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This Office will continue to hold accountable dishonest healthcare professionals who abuse the trust placed in them by lying and cheating in order to line their own pockets.”  

The investigation into Adamczak conducted by the Offices of the Inspector General revealed that between 2016 – 2020, he submitted $1,185,940 in insurance claims for acupuncture services that were never provided. These claims resulted in the insurer making $994,838 in payments to its beneficiaries, who then delivered the payments to Adamczak. 

In one instance, records revealed that the defendant’s daughter claimed to have received treatment from Adamczak when she was in fact traveling out of state. For other dates, Adamczak claimed to have delivered treatments when he was out of state.    

Some patients reported that they received “needleless” acupuncture from the chiropractor with a “laser pen.” Others said they received no acupuncture-related treatments at all, including one such person who had $6,000 in acupuncture claims submitted on their behalf. 

Investigators from the Offices of the Inspector General also found that one state employee who lives in Brooklyn allegedly received $165,000 worth of acupuncture services three to four times each week despite not having been reasonably able to commute to Long Island that frequently.   

Inspector General Lang thanked Deputy Inspector General for the Long Island Regional Office Jean Carsey, Downstate Chief of Audit Giovanni Liotine, Senior Investigative Auditor Angelus Okeke, and Investigator Mario Rubino for their exemplary work on the case. IG Lang is also grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation – New York Field Office and The Empire Plan for their critical assistance in this matter.