Charges against four people accused of using a lawyer hotline in a scheme involving car accident victims receiving unnecessary medical treatment and prescriptions paid for by auto insurance companies have been dismissed.
Four Macomb County Circuit Court judges dismissed charges against Michael Angelo, owner of the 1-800-USLawyer hotline; Pharmacist Robert Presley; obstetrician-gynecologist Chitra Sinha; and Hassan Fayad, who said he had arranged transportation for patients at the center. The charges were dismissed this month and in September.
The four judges found that 41-B District Court Judge Kari Fuca abused her discretion when she found probable cause for the case to go to trial. Some also questioned authorities' suggestion that Angelo used a “predetermined protocol” to scheme against insurance companies.
The charges came after a four-year investigation and FBI investigation. It centers on a hotline owned by Angelo, along with a network of medical companies that authorities say worked together to defraud victims of auto accidents in Michigan.
Two other cases remain pending.
Attorneys for Angelo, Presley, Sinha and Fayad have filed motions with the respective Macomb County Circuit Court judges asking them to dismiss the cases for lack of evidence.
“The primary issue was the complete and utter lack of any evidence that any medical services and medications provided through Michael Angelo's surgery center were medically inappropriate,” attorney Michael Bullotta, who represents Angelo, told The Detroit News. “Everything Mr. Angelo did was decided by doctors who treated patients injured in car accidents.”
Danny Wimmer, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the office filed the charges because it believes six people are running “a criminal auto insurance fraud enterprise targeting Michigan residents involved in auto collisions.”
“The courts clarified in their orders their interpretations of the statute of limitations regarding our allegations and their evaluation of our case after a preliminary examination,” Wimmer said in an email. “The department is not preparing an appeal in this matter at this time.”
One stop service
Angelo owned or controlled a Clinton Township one-stop shop with a surgical center, Mercyland Health Services; toxicology tests; pharmaceutical company; and charging center. He also owned the hotline and law firm Michigan Auto Accidents.
People who called the hotline were directed to attorneys, medical providers and transportation companies, according to Bullotta's proposal. Angelo's company then bills insurance companies for the treatment.
The AG's office said Angelo established a “predetermined protocol” that it said must be followed in every case, regardless of the patient's medical needs, but did not provide evidence or explain why it was illegal, Bulotta and Muhammad's attorney Abraham, William Branch, argued their motions.
Abraham's case remains in Macomb County Circuit Court, as does that of another defendant, attorney Thomas Quartz.
Fayad said the case “has pretty much destroyed our lives”. The prosecutor has frozen his bank accounts and assets and he cannot conduct business. He said his only involvement in the company was arranging transportation for customers because many people don't have transportation after being in an accident.
“We did nothing wrong. This whole thing was made up,” Fayad said. “A lot of people, if they don't fight it or come to terms, the truth never comes out… I never thought that could happen here in the United States. The DA has so much power and abuse.. If you don't have the money to fight it, you're going to take a deal and go to jail.”
Judge dismisses state charges against Angelo
Two months after a three-day preliminary hearing in December in which the assistant attorney general presented evidence to Fuqua, the judge said he needed further clarification between the evidence and each charge and asked for a description of the details explaining each charge. Instead, prosecutors filed a bond motion, and Fuqua sent the case to District Court in March without giving the defendants a chance to contest it.
Bullotta wrote in his motion to vacate the bond that the unproven assumption by the AG's office and Fuca was that “the physician-prescribed medical services and drugs billed to auto insurance companies were fraudulent because they were performed pursuant to ” Angelo's predetermined protocol.'
The medications and procedures were prescribed for injured patients, and the AG's office never provided evidence that they were medically inappropriate, Bulotta said.
Angelo was charged with four counts of obtaining $1,000 to $20,000 by false pretenses, four counts of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretenses, six counts of delivery of a controlled substance, conducting a criminal enterprise and three counts of insurance fraud.
Judge Diane Druzinski dismissed five of Angelo's charges on Sept. 10 because the statute of limitations had expired, meaning the conduct was too old to be charged. She said she was not convinced that because the defendants followed Angelo's “predetermined protocol” their services were fraudulent and they were guilty of crimes.
“The prosecution is not arguing that 'predetermined protocol' is evidence of criminality, they are arguing that it is illegal and any time a provider is said to have followed 'protocol,' those services are ipso facto fraudulent,” Druzinski said. “This logic does not follow. Indeed, it is circular and cannot support probable cause.
'No evidence' to establish probable cause for crimes by Sinha, Presley, Fayad
Judge Matthew Sabaw wrote in his order granting Sinha's request to revoke bond on Sept. 19 that prosecutors argued Sinha's treatment of a patient was a false pretense because she followed Angelo's “predetermined protocol.”
Sinha was charged with three counts of obtaining $1,000 to $20,000 under false pretenses, conducting a criminal enterprise and three counts of insurance fraud. All seven charges were dismissed.
There is no evidence to show that the treatment was a false pretext, nor is there any evidence that Sinha followed this predetermined protocol with her patients, however, Sabaugh said. Prosecutors also never showed any evidence that Sinha's treatment of patients was fraudulent, as they alleged.
Sinha's attorney, Mark Krieger, argued that there was no crime and that even if there had been a crime, the statute of limitations had run out.
Presley, a pharmacist, was charged with knowingly dispensing Schedule II drugs based on Sinha's allegedly fraudulent prescriptions, but his attorney, Mark Satava, said there was no evidence the prescriptions were fraudulent or that Presley suspected they were fraudulent.
He was charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, criminal enterprise and two counts of insurance fraud.
Macomb County District Court Judge Joseph Toya said in a Sept. 6 order that there was no testimony given during the preliminary investigation regarding the crimes Presley allegedly committed and no evidence that his actions were wrongful or illegal.
Fayad's case was dismissed Oct. 1 by Macomb County District Court Judge James Macaroni. He was charged with three counts of obtaining $1,000 to $20,000 under false pretenses, conducting a criminal enterprise and three counts of insurance fraud.
No witness provided “any substantial evidence about Fayad or his role in the alleged plot,” Macaroni said. The only evidence for Fayad is in the prosecution's bond request. There is no evidence that Fayad knew of Angelo's past, of the “predetermined protocol,” or that he knew that the treatment or procedures were not necessary or reasonable.
Asked what the charges against Fayad were, his lawyer Jim Amberg said: “I had the same question myself and I could never figure it out. Which is probably why the District Court judge dismissed it.”
“He was accused of being part of a scheme, but there was nothing illegal about what was going on there,” Amberg said. “There was literally no evidence (at the preliminary examination) to show that he had anything to do with these things. . . . I don't know why he was even charged.”
Two state cases, 4 federal cases still pending
Quartz and Abraham still face charges in Macomb County. Quartz is charged with two counts of obtaining $1,000 to $20,000 under false pretenses, conducting a criminal enterprise, and three counts of insurance fraud. Abraham is charged with three counts of obtaining $1,000 to $20,000 under false pretenses, conducting a criminal enterprise and three counts of insurance fraud.
Abraham's attorney, Branch, asked Judge Jennifer Faunce to dismiss the charges against Abraham. Branch said Abraham did not commit any crimes, and even if he did, the statute of limitations had run out.
The AG's office claims that Abraham is the “face” of the organization, but their only evidence to support that is “a series of indecipherable recordings of wiretapped phone conversations from 2016” between Angelo and Abraham, Branch said. There are no witnesses to link him to the organization.
Quartz's attorney, Noel Erringeri, said in his motion to vacate the bond that there was no evidence that Quartz knew that the patient's treatment of injuries it allegedly treated was fraudulent. Quartz sent insurance bills for Angelo.
Judge Richard Carretti has not yet ruled on the motion.
In federal court, Angelo faces five counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, five counts of wire fraud and two counts of attempting to evade or evade taxes. Fayad is charged with two counts of identity fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of fraud and misrepresentation, and three counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Fayad's sister, Myrna Fayad, is charged with three counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Rosina Angelo, Michael Angelo's sister, is charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States.