Two chiropractors based in Marietta, GA have each been sentenced to federal prison for defrauding a private insurance company and the Internal Revenue Service of more than a million dollars using their clinic.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said that Atlanta natives Allan Spagnardi, 41, and Stacy Spagnardi, 52, were each sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
Both were also ordered to pay full restitution to their victims, Marietta Daily Journal reported.
For several years, the Spagnardis used their clinic, “Dr. Allan Spagnardi Chiropractic” in Marietta, to bill a private insurance company for services that they never provided. They used their own patients’ information to create the fraudulent claims.
“At times, the Spagnardis submitted claims for reimbursement for services occurring when they were not even in the country,” the US Attorney’s Office said in a release. “For instance, the Spagnardis claimed that their clinic had 296 patient visits during a week that they were actually on a cruise vacation out of the country.”
Between 2014 and 2015, the Spagnardis managed to earn over $1 million, but they failed to file federal income tax returns or pay federal income taxes for those tax years. Prosecutors said that in those years, they took steps to conceal their true income from the IRS.
Citing court documents, the Marietta Daily Journal reported that Stacy Spagnardi spent much of the proceeds at casinos, while Allan Spagnardi spent some of the money on a BMW motorcycle and a 2015 BMW M4.
Officials also said that the two continued to hide their income from the IRS even after being indicted, including filing a false federal income tax return in early 2018.
“Healthcare professionals who defraud insurance companies do not just abuse the trust afforded to them by their patients, they also drive up healthcare prices for honest citizens throughout the country,” commented US Attorney Byung Pak.
