The Journal News (Westchester County, NY)
Doctor charged in $1 million insurance fraud case
By Nancy Cacioppo
September 10, 2004

— Excerpt

A Nanuet psychiatrist has been accused of defrauding government insurers of more than $1 million by billing for services never rendered, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday.

Dr. Justin Psaila, who has a private practice in his home, was arraigned Wednesday before Rockland County Court Judge Kenneth Resnick on a 23-count indictment.

Psaila was charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, one count of first-degree scheme to defraud and 20 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

According to the indictment, Psaila, 75, of 116 Tennyson Drive, submitted thousands of false reimbursement claims from January 1997 to November 2002. The indictment alleges that Psaila said he provided Medicaid and Medicare patients with various psychiatric services, including therapy with at least 37 minutes of face-to-face contact, when he knew the services had not been rendered…