CT company accused of stealing $17.9M from Curry Automotive

The Curry Automotive dealership group in Greenburgh was ripped off for $17.9 million by a Connecticut health insurance administrator, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Monday.

Employee Benefit Solutions of Wilton allegedly submitted ledgers to Curry claiming $26 million in employee health care claims from 2015 to 2019, but paid the health care providers $8.1 million.

Federal prosecutors charged EBS owners Anthony and Patricia Riccardi of New Canaan,  and employees Vanessa Battle of New Canaan and Erin Verespy of Trumbull with conspiracy and wire fraud.

Curry Management Corp., headquartered across the street from Curry Chevrolet on Central Park Avenue in Greenburgh, is self-insured. For 15 years, EBS has managed its employees”™ medical claims and procured insurance coverage.

Curry has 750 employees and 15 car dealerships in four states.

Twice a month, EBS submitted check registers to Curry, purportedly showing payments it  was preparing to make to health care providers. Curry would then wire the total amount to its account at EBS.

But most of the charges were false, according to an affidavit by Greg T. Ghiozzi, a U.S. postal inspector.

In July 2017, for instance, the EBS ledger listed 57 checks totaling $336,147 owed to health care providers. Investigators found that only 37 checks, totaling $47,435, were actually deposited by the providers. That left $288,712 unaccounted.

During the same period, $50,000 was transferred from Curry”™s account at EBS to the firm”™s operating account, according to the complaint. EBS allegedly transferred $12,247 for a mortgage payment on the Riccardis”™ home and $29,192 for credit card charges.

EBS also allegedly submitted $5.6 million in claims to Curry from a pharmacy network that was actually owed $2.5 million. In June 2017, for instance, EBS asked Curry for $274,328, but pharmacy records showed only $2,647 in claims.

EBS concealed the scheme by fabricating bank statements and images of checks, according to the government, that were sent to a Curry executive to make it appear as if the health care providers had been paid.

The criminal complaint does not explain what happened to most of the missing money. But it indicates that EBS itself, despite millions of dollars in alleged ill-gotten gains, had cash flow problems.

EBS received short-term financing from merchant cash advance firms, according to the complaint, that allowed the firms to withdraw about $5 million from EBS”™ accounts receivable.

Curry sued EBS and the Riccardis on June 30 in U.S. District Court, White Plains, alleging fraud.

In 2017, for example, EBS was supposed to buy a $2 million insurance policy but bought a $1 million policy instead, allegedly pocketing the $90,248 difference in premium payments.

Bronx attorney Larry Sheehan, who represents Anthony Riccardi, said “no comment,” when asked about the accusations.

Attorneys for Patricia Riccardi and Vanessa Battle did not immediately respond to emails asking for comment, and no attorney has been listed for Erin Verespy.

The Riccardis and Verespy were arrested last week. Anthony Riccardi, 42, and Verespy, 49, were released from custody on $1 million personal recognizance bonds. Patricia Riccardi, 53, posted a $500,000 bond

Battle was arrested on Monday and posted a $150,000 bond.

The wire fraud charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In addition to the postal inspection service and local U.S. Attorney”™s Office, the case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. District Attorney”™s Office for Connecticut.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas S. Bradley in the White Plains office is in charge of the prosecution.