The owner of a medical transport company in New Rochelle faces felony charges for alleged Medicaid fraud, state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced.
Kurien Palliankal, a 48-year-old Yonkers resident and the owner of Carewell Ambulette Inc., was arrested July 10 for allegedly stealing more than $200,000 from the Medicaid program.
Palliankal and his company are accused of altering transportation requests from medical facilities for taxi service for Medicaid patients to requests for ambulette service, which is reimbursed by Medicaid at a rate four times higher than for taxis, according to the attorney general. The alleged thefts occurred over a nearly four-year period that ended in March 2010.
Palliankal and the Carewell corporation were each charged with one count of second-degree grand larceny, a class C felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison. The owner and his company additionally face five counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class D felony, as well as first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and first-degree falsifying business records, class E felonies.
Palliankal was arraigned in New Rochelle City Court and released on his own recognizance.
Schneiderman cited the Westchester County Department of Social Services for its assistance in conducting the investigation. Â The case is being prosecuted by the Pearl River regional office of the attorney general”™s Medicaid fraud control unit.
