BOSTON (WWLP) – In federal court in Boston, a Wayland woman was sentenced Wednesday for participating in a scheme to defraud multiple insurance providers for physical therapy services that were not provided.
According to the Department of Justice, Anna Barenboym, 47, has been sentenced to one year of probation and one month’s home confinement by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns. Additionally, Barenboym was ordered to pay $648,852 in restitution. A plea of guilty was entered by Barenboym in March 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Gyulnara Bayryshova, Slava Pride, and Raya Bagardi were indicted alongside Barenboym in February 2021.
At Brighton Physical Therapy (BPT), a physical therapy clinic owned by Bayryshova, Barenboym was a licensed physical therapist. Both Pride and Bagardi worked at BPT as licensed physical therapist assistants. As part of the conspiracy, Barenboym and her co-defendants conspired to obtain reimbursement from an insurance company for physical therapy services that were not actually provided and/or were not medically necessary and, in some cases, were provided by individuals who were not licensed to provide such services. Barenboym and her co-defendants falsely billed for services purportedly rendered to patients injured in automobile accidents when those services were not provided. The BPT paid patients for referrals, referred patients to attorneys to assist with insurance settlements, and received kickbacks from those attorneys.
Pride was sentenced to two years in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay over $2.3 million in restitution on July 12, 2023. A sentence of two years of supervised release was imposed on Bagardi on July 19, 2023, with the first year spent in home confinement. Bagardi was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $2.3 million. Bayryshova was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of supervised release on July 26, 2023. In addition, Bayryshova was ordered to pay restitution of $7,383,756 and forfeiture of $7,834.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Anthony DiPaolo, Chief of Investigations of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts; Michael Cox, Boston Police Commissioner; and Paul Keenan, Quincy Police Chief, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit prosecuted the case.
Kayleigh Thomas is a digital reporter who has been a part of the 22News team since 2022. Follow Kayleigh on Twitter @kayleighcthomas and view her bio to see more of her work.
