Rockville Centre doctor sentenced to four years for taking bribes

A doctor with a practice in Rockville Centre was sentenced on Nov. 18 to 46 months in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running and elaborate scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), of Parsippany, N.J., its president and numerous associates, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Brett Halper, 41, of Glen Head, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to an information charging him with one count of accepting bribes. Chesler imposed the sentence last week in Newark federal court.

Including Halper, 38 people — 26 of them doctors — have pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme, which its organizers have admitted involved millions of dollars in bribes and resulted in more than $100 million in payments to BLS from Medicare and various private insurance companies. The investigation has so far recovered more than $11.5 million to date through forfeiture.

According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court, Halper admitted that from January 2011 through April 2013, he accepted bribes in return for referring patient blood specimens to BLS and was often paid in excess of $5,000 per month. Halper’s referrals generated approximately $2,900,000 in lab business for BLS.

In addition to the prison term, Chesler sentenced Halper to serve two years of supervised release and fined him $100,000. Halper must also forfeit $325,000.