The Sunday Post reported on a disturbing trend in New York City where vulnerable individuals, such as migrants and the homeless, are being coerced into undergoing unnecessary surgeries in order to bolster fraudulent lawsuits. A group of criminals, including Russian gangsters and MS-13 members, recruit victims and guide them through faking accidents to file lawsuits. This twisted scheme is made possible by government incompetence and progressive policies. Victims are put at risk with life-altering surgeries, while third-party lenders charge sky-high interest rates to cover medical costs during lawsuits.
The scammers take advantage of New York’s Scaffold Law, which holds owners and contractors automatically liable for any accidents on their worksite, regardless of fault. This law results in easy payouts for attorneys and plaintiffs, as well as increased insurance premiums for others. In the end, those who took on physical risks, such as the plaintiffs in these cases, often receive the smallest portion of the settlement after paying back predatory loans. The perpetrators profit while the victims face a lifetime of health complications, pain, and potential future medical expenses.
The state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General’s lack of aggressive investigation into fraudulent claims enables these criminal activities to continue. By announcing ahead of time which types of fraud they will focus on each year, they inadvertently let fraudsters know which areas are vulnerable to exploitation. Victims of these scams come from various backgrounds, including homeless individuals pulled off the street and migrants specifically brought to New York for slip-and-fall schemes. The open border policies under President Biden and NYC’s sanctuary status contribute to a steady supply of easy prey for these criminals.
While there are whispers of a federal probe into these scams, no crackdown on the professional mutilators has been seen yet. The US Attorney’s Offices in New York should collaborate with local District Attorney’s Offices to combat these criminal conspiracies, while Albany needs to address the laws and practices that enable and encourage the sinister activities. The current situation, where the criminals get richer and the victims suffer long-term consequences, is causing outrage and calls for immediate action to protect the vulnerable individuals being exploited in these schemes.
