In November 2017, an unlicensed plastic surgeon, Brad Jacobs, of Westbury, New York, and licensed physician Nicholas Sewell were indicted in New York County on charges that they engaged in a four-year scheme to illegally perform plastic surgeries on over 60 patients, including causing permanent disfigurement to one patient.
Now, Mr. Jacobs has been indicted for a second time.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has charged Mr. Jacobs with concealing his ongoing illegal practice of medicine and his associated income from his disability insurance carrier and the Nassau County Department of Social Services in order to fraudulently obtain almost $375,000 in benefits. The attorney general's office said in a statement that Mr. Jacobs was licensed to practice medicine in 1988 and practiced until June 18, 2007, when the New York State Department of Health, Office of Professional Medical Conduct ("OPMC") invoked its emergency powers to summarily suspend his license and shut down his practice. Mr. Jacobs thereafter was formally charged with 29 specifications of professional medical misconduct, including gross negligence, incompetence, and moral unfitness related to his performance of surgeries, including breast augmentation, tummy tucks, liposuction, and rhinoplasty.
During the OPMC's revocation hearing, the attorney general's office said, Mr. Jacobs admitted that he could not defend against the charges, and in September 2007 he surrendered his license to practice medicine. The surrender order entered against Mr. Jacobs not only ordered him to immediately cease the practice of medicine, but also prohibited him from representing that he was eligible to practice medicine; providing an opinion as to the practice or application of medicine; occupying, using, or sharing office space in which another physician provided health care services; or sharing or receiving any fee for professional services.
According to prosecutors, from September 2012 to June 2016, Mr. Jacobs and Dr. Sewell allegedly defrauded patients undergoing costly cosmetic surgery procedures – each averaging between $8,000 and $10,000 – by falsely representing that Mr. Jacobs was authorized to practice medicine. Over the course of four years, Mr. Jacobs and Dr. Sewell allegedly performed surgeries on over 60 patients, along with scores of additional medical procedures on patients, including Botox and injectables.
Prosecutors said that their investigation further revealed that from 2013 to present, Mr. Jacobs allegedly engaged in a massive insurance fraud and welfare fraud scheme. As alleged, prior to losing his medical license, Mr. Jacobs had purchased a disability insurance policy with Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company; after losing his license in 2007, Mr. Jacobs filed a disability claim with Northwestern; and a settlement was reached in June 2013 pursuant to which Mr. Jacobs received a lump sum payment of $750,000 and ongoing payments of over $100,000 per year from Northwestern, payable to a trust established for his benefit. However, prosecutors asserted, to qualify for ongoing disability payments, Mr. Jacobs was required to file annual statements with Northwestern certifying that he was not employed or otherwise practicing as a physician.
According to the government, from 2014 to 2017, Mr. Jacobs filed four such annual statements with Northwestern, in which he allegedly falsely certified that he was no longer engaged in the practice of medicine, thereby fraudulently obtaining over $360,000 in ongoing disability insurance payments.
Moreover, according to the attorney general's office, while he was receiving these sums from Northwestern – totaling over $1.3 million to date – Mr. Jacobs allegedly filed sworn documents with the government certifying that he was in need of, and entitled to receive, food stamp benefits. According to prosecutors, between 2013 and 2017, Mr. Jacobs allegedly filed eight recertification statements with the Nassau County Department of Social Services ("DSS") that affirmed, under penalty of perjury, his continued eligibility to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits ("SNAP," also known as food stamp benefits).
As alleged, in every recertification, Mr. Jacobs concealed not only the income from his medical practice with Dr. Sewell, but also the $750,000 settlement he received in trust from Northwestern in June 2013, the ongoing $108,000 per year in disability payments from Northwestern from 2014 to 2017, and his additional income of nearly $100,000 from a start-up skin care company, Nouveau Genesis.
Instead, Mr. Jacobs allegedly falsely claimed that he had little or no income and resources and that he was being supported by his elderly parents. Moreover, Mr. Jacobs allegedly concealed from the Nassau DSS that he received an additional $18,000 in deposits per year into his personal bank account from the trust, which he then used for entertainment and leisure, including expenditures of over $10,000 at Whole Foods and Waldbaums, and $3,900 at Bagel Boss. In total, Mr. Jacobs collected almost $14,000 in food stamp benefits between 2013 and 2017, prosecutors said.