Schneiderman: Binghamton transport-company owners stole $1 million from Medicaid system

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The owners of a Broome County transportation company are under arrest for allegedly violating the workers’-compensation law and illegally obtaining more than $1 million from the Medicaid system.

Kenneth Cohn, 68, and Sharon Cohn, 64, owned and operated Yellow Medi-Van and Taxi Inc., the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a news release issued on Monday.

The defendants were arraigned in Binghamton City Court.

The husband and wife are both charged with a felony count of grand larceny in the first degree; two felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree; and a single felony count of effect of failure to secure compensation, which is in violation of the workers’-compensation law, according to Schneiderman’s office.

“Our state’s workers’-compensation laws exist for a reason … to protect employees in the event of an accident,” Schneiderman said in the release. “Those who knowingly disregard these regulations and simultaneously defraud Medicaid will be held accountable.”

Case background

The Medicaid program sent payments to Yellow Medi-Van and Taxi Inc. for transporting Medicaid beneficiaries to medical appointments, according to Schneiderman’s office.

The defendants are alleged to have knowingly operated the company in violation of Broome County transportation regulations, including not having workers’-compensation insurance during the period of June 2, 2012, to Jan. 30, 2014.

The Cohns obtained more than $1 million in Medicaid payments during the time the company was operated unlawfully, Schneiderman’s office said.

In addition, the Cohns violated the New York’s workers’-compensation law by knowingly operating a business with more than five employees without workers’-compensation insurance, it added.

 “This husband and wife’s alleged million-dollar theft from taxpayers was enabled through a trail of fraud and deceit, uncovered by my investigation, that purposefully misled regulators and left their own employees exposed and vulnerable,” Catherine Leahy Scott, New York Inspector General, said in the release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com