This guy must be a partner in the firm of Dumb & Dumber.
A knuckleheaded New York lawyer pleaded guilty today to healthcare fraud, after he brazenly tried to target the FBI in a bogus injury lawsuit, officials said.
Lawyer Jeffrey Squitieri, 45, apparently noticed nothing suspicious when a new client came to him saying he’d been involved in a wreck with a car that had been rented by the bureau.
That “client” turned out to be an undercover officer conducting a fraud investigation into Squitieri’s sleazy accident claim operation.
The Manhattan attorney allegedly flunked gangster 101 by failing to realize his client might have really been law enforcement, after his own check of the car’s rental record showed it was “hired” by the FBI.
Despite this massive hint — which might have sent the average con-artist running for the hills — Squitieri would not be deterred from his greedy scheme, according to the Manhattan US Attorney’s office.
The plot included ordering the undercover to get pricy and unnecessary medical treatment, such as MRIs.
He then filed a $1 million claim against the FBI on behalf of the undercover.
He was so brazen, that he even called the agency multiple times in June and July to inquire about the status of the case.
“Some people have chutzpah – but with this guy it’s compounded by stupidity,” said Frank Scafidi, spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
“The world of criminal behavior – you think you’ve seen it all,” he added. “Then you see something even more heinous – or in this case, laughable.”
The probe began in January 2011, when the undercover was introduced to the shady lawyer by an employee of a medical clinic, which was allegedly in cahoots with him.
Squitieri, of Englewood Cliffs, NJ, allegedly told the officer that he had to make as many visits to the clinic as he could in 90 days and get MRIs on his back and neck.
He allegedly said that if the agent played ball with the scam he would get rich.
“If you do what I tell you to do I’ll make you money,” he said in a recorded telephone call, according to a criminal complaint. “Go ahead and you play and . . . I’m gonna get you set up for a procedure and make you money.”
Squitieri allegedly tried to get the undercover to get chiropractic procedures such as manipulation under anesthesia, which the feds said can “drastically increase the size of the insurance claim and/or lawsuit.”
Squitieri, who was disbarred on unrelated issues, filed suit against the FBI in 2011.
He faces up to three years behind bars when he is sentenced.
Despite his failure to sense the law officers were on to him, Squitieri was actually paranoid about police, said a doorman at the building that housed his law offices.
“He was the biggest trouble maker of the 2000 residents here,” said Armind Jata. He was always afraid, he called down all the time because he thought police were looking for him.”