By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 15– Andrew Dowd and George Constantine face trial on November 28, 2022 on charges springing from a slip and fall fraud scheme. Inner City Press has been covering the case and will report on the trial.
On November 25, 2022, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Sidney H. Stein received an argument to limit cross-examination of a government Witness-12, consistent with limitations he imposed in US v. Bryan Duncan, another case covered by Inner City Press.
The government wrote, "The Court should preclude cross-examination on the limited fact that Witness-12's 2021 conviction involved the attempted possession of a firearm because it is ... high prejudicial and risks inflaming the jury, consistent with the ruling of the Court in US v. Bryan Duncan, 18-cr-289 (SHW). Kalkanis from that trial figured in this one too.
On June 15, 2023, Kalkanis was up for sentencing before Judge Stein. He cried, and when asked again why he did it said, Greed. Judge Stein said he had planned BOP incarceration but now decided on nine months home detention, three years supervised release with 200 hour of community service in each year, ideally prison ministry, he said.
Jump back to April 18, 2023 when the US Attorney's Office filed its sentencing submission for Constantine. They want "a prison sentence of at least fifteen years imprisonment."
On April 25, both Constantine and Dowd got eight and a half years: " CONSTANTINE and DOWD, who were convicted at trial in December 2022 of mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, were each sentenced to 102 months in prison."
On November 28, Inner City Press was in the courtroom at 5 pm when the 16 jurors (four are alternates) were selected, and again after they left when, in ruling in motions in limine, Judge Stein excluded amended tax returns as remedial and irrelevant. But what about legitimate slip and fall patients?
On November 29, the government's first witness was on the stand, with a non-prosecution agreement. He acknowledged that before faking a knee injury, he'd actually hurt his knee. That was real, he insisted. He was asked about accompanying girlfriend Colette Ford to a trip and fall, and that she lied at the hospital. But was she really hurt?
On re-direct, he was asked about "Doctor K" briefing him before he met with the defendants. Next witness may or may not be CW-3 Gordon.
It was. On November 30 he testified matter of the factly about driving surgery prospects around. They got paid $1500 per surgery, with the payments sometimes made in the recovery room. The cases settled for $100,000 to $150,000 dollars. Reference was made to litigation funder Adrian Alexander, and Sady Ribeiro, both named in the indictment in this case. (Marc Elefant has been pushing his sentencing back, now to March 2, 2023).
On December 1, both defense lawyers were objecting to testimony about "red flags" in insurance claims. In writing, a request was made to exclude similar testimony and information, with sample reports annexed including statements about homelessness, shelters, different event dates, no ambulance. The jury was sent home for the day after a long side bar complete with white noise.
On December 2, the US has an FBI Special Agent, with the Bureau for only a year, to describe charts and the underlying emails. One was from Kalkanis to Adrian Alexander, describing Doctor Dowd and his "monster practice." Monster indeed.
On December 5, the US had on the stand a doctor testifying that the MRI technology not only of today, but also of 2014, made invasive inquiries as described unnecessary. The Hippocratic Oath was cited, and case files reviewed.
On December 7, a participant in the slip and fall scheme described meeting with Marc Elefant and showing him the site of the fall on Google Maps street view. The AUSA showed juror scraps of paper in plastic bags - Judge Stein quipped, In case they don't believe that they say on the monitors.
Upcoming: the owner of a business sued, fraudulently, but Constantine's client Jose Julbe. The US wants in Constantine's deposition, under FRE 801(d)(2)(A).
On December 8, Kalkanis himself was on the stand, explaining damningly how he sought out Dr. Dowd to do surgeries for $9000 a pop, he never turned out down as unnecessary or ill-advised.
He described Adrian Alexander's "Astoria Medical Imaging" and its 100% positive MRI rate, and Alexander's investment in cases.
On December 9, Kalkanis was being cross examined by Kevin Keating for Dowd, and Marc Gann for Constantine. An email was shown by both sides, to say trip and fall, not slip and fall and not get into details like "the CVS in Grand Central."
On December 12, there was cross examination about the charts the US Attorney's Office compiled and showed, about MRIs for, among others, Naquan Louis, Johnnie Monroe and Tyheem Walker. Meanwhile, Dowd's lawyer objected to the Government's Request to Charge about "Medical Conduct."
On December 13, the witness was a Dr. Springer, being questioned if he found Dowd's operations to not be medically necessary. His answers were essentially Yes (unnecessary), but on several, he said he just didn't remember. Objections were overruled.
On December 15 in rebuttal closing, AUSA Folly hammered away, including on the five cases in two months from people living in a homeless shelter on Ralph Avenue.
On December 16, AUSA Folly was at the OneCoin guilty plea of Sebastian Greenwood which Inner City Press was also covering when he announced that there had been a verdict in US v. Dowd and Constantine. And the verdicts were: guilty. We'll have more on this.
The case is US v. Constantine, et al., 21-cr-530 (Stein).
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