ATLANTA — For the first time, a metro area doctor accused of defrauding Medicare through unnecessary treatments, kickbacks and tax evasion is publicly defending his actions.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer spoke with Dr. Lawrence Eppelbaum outside the Atlanta Institute of Medicine and Rehabilitation on Piedmont Road. The waiting room was full of patients despite prosecutors' claims that Eppelbaum fraudulently billed Medicare for treatments on hundreds of patients flown in from around the country.
"So why would they say that you ripped off the federal government for Medicare money?" asked Fleischer.
"I don't have any idea... because we're a very successful practice. I'm a successful, rich guy. I don't know," answered Eppelbaum.
A Russian couple from Baltimore, Md., came forward and sued Eppelbaum as whistle-blowers on behalf of every American taxpayer.
Their attorney, Marlan Wilbanks, showed Fleischer the Russian language TV Guide where his clients saw an advertisement for Eppelbaum's treatment.
"They promise treatment for free and they say 'people don't trust us, it's too good to be true,'" said Wilbanks, "The problem is Medicare would not have paid one penny if they would have known that these people were being induced to come to Atlanta for this treatment, with free meals, travel and entertainment."
Wilbanks said Eppelbaum gave his patients all-expense paid vacations funded by a bogus nonprofit called the Back Pain Fund. Its website says it "exists on the expense of people that are ready to sympathize others."
"Did you give real treatments to the people who came in?" Fleischer asked Eppelbaum.
"Of course," he replied.
"And what about the trips to Florida and North Carolina?"
"Of course that's a part of the treatment," said Eppelbaum.
Prosecutors said Eppelbaum also entered into an arrangement with the Torah Day School of Atlanta in which parents would "donate their monthly tuition payments to the Back Pain Fund," and "Eppelbaum and his clinic donated an equal amount to the Jewish Day School plus 25 percent." Prosecutors called it a "windfall" for the school, which helped Eppelbaum disguise his funding of the Back Pain Fund.
"I was giving a lot of donations to Torah Day School. I was giving a lot of donations to Back Pain Fund, a nonprofit organization, and obviously I was not in control of that organization," Eppelbaum said.
Wilbanks and prosecutors found no record of the Back Pain Fund being registered as a nonprofit.
An attorney for Torah Day School of Atlanta told Fleischer that no one at the school knowingly participated in any scheme to defraud anyone. He added that school leaders are fully cooperating with federal prosecutors, and have turned over documents to help with the case.
Eppelbaum denies all of the allegations and said patients will testify on his behalf.
"I will win, 100 percent," he said.
The judge has already delayed the trial in the case once because the evidence is complicated and the attorneys needed more time. It's now set for trial in October.
WSBTV
