By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC - Honduras - CIA Trial Book - NY Mag
SDNY Exclusive, August 26 – Purificacion Cristobal is on trial for having run a clinic in The Bronx at which she wrote prescriptions for Oxocodone, Xanax and Adderall for patients she never examined, many of whom turned around and sold the drugs to other addicts.
One such patient who re-sold drugs, Danilla LoCicero, testified on the afternoon of August 26, 2022 in the trial before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Katharine Polk Failla. Inner City Press was present in Courtroom 318 for the direct, cross and re-direct examination.
Ms. LoCicero began by saying she has worked for JP Morgan Chase for 17 years. She then said that all of the Oxycodone she was prescribed by "Doctor Cristobal" she gave to her common law husband Peter Maisonave to re-sell for cash.
She said Maisonave was suffering some anxiety and depression due to being out of work and considering back surgury which he ultimately had. The oxy he didn't sell, he crushed up and snorted. LoCicero asked to be sent to a pharmacy that provided the oxy in crushable form.
Somehow, while still working for Chase Bank, LoCicero began working in Cristobal's clinic, resubmitted bills that had been rejected to insurance companies. Her pay was in drugs prescribed without any visit.
She was offered a deal in which she will not be prosecuted for possession of the drugs with intent to distribute, and insurance fraud, as long as she testifies truthfully against Cristobal.
The cross examination, while focusing on 2006 spine MRIs to argue the drugs may have been necessary, did not get into the insurance fraud or work at JP Morgan Chase.
When LoCicero left the witness stand and courtroom, a man who appeared to be her lawyer followed her out.
The case is US v. Cristobal, US v. Cristobal, 20-cr-463 (Failla).
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