Cedarhurst resident sentenced for fraud

Woodmere chiropractor Melvin Cwibeker gets one year in federal prison

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Cedarhurst resident Melvin Cwibeker, the owner of Mel Cwibeker D.C. in Woodmere, was sentenced on April 20 to one year in federal prison for his lead role in a medical insurance scheme that netted him $4.5 million in fraudulent billings.

Cwibeker, 60, admitted that he submitted bogus Medicare claims for more than six years, and said he hired employees to create fake patient records.
He pleaded guilty to health care fraud and obstructing a federal audit in June of last year. Cwibeker, who trained three other hired chiropractors to not provide the required Medicare patient care agreed to pay restitution and a $500,000 forfeiture.

From January 2006 to March 2012, Cwibeker received $4.5 million in bogus billings. In total, the amount of fraudulent billings was $6.4 million. He was arrested in 2012.

The chiropractors, Richard Hurwitz, 45, of Long Beach; Shimon Metz, 45, of West Hempstead; and Mark Samuel, 55, of Mamaroneck, pleaded guilty to health care fraud in 2013.