Sawbones’ scam
Dirty doc made $860G with fake ID: feds
A SLEAZY SURGEON, after losing his medical license, simply stole a colleague’s identity, authorities charged.
Ex-doctor Spyros Panos, stripped of his license after an October 2013 health fraud conviction, continued his life of crime by illegally reviewing workers’ comp cases under the name of another physician, a federal complaint charged Tuesday.
Officials charged he collected more than $860,000 by posing as the legitimately licensed orthopedic surgeon who was once Panos’ medical colleague.
The identity theft scam began before Panos (photo) went to jail in that first fraud case, and resumed after his release from prison in October 2016, said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.
Panos used the name and credentials of the real surgeon to land the workers’ comp gig, operating out of a company dubbed Excel O — where a relative was listed as the registered agent.
He raked in $239,000 from five review companies in the six months before heading off to prison, and resumed the medical mendacity about two months after his release to home confinement, officials said.
Between December 2016 and October 2017, more than $636,000 in checks came into the Excel O coffers, court papers alleged.
“Jaw-dropping hubris,” said state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. “The alleged actions . . . demonstrate the apparent lack of remorse and a clear disdain for making an honest living.”
The doctor victimized by the identity theft knew Panos and had last spoken to him about one year ago, officials charged.
Panos is charged with wire fraud, health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, and faces up to 32 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted.
The notorious Panos, 49, pleaded guilty in 2013 to stealing millions of dollars from health insurance companies by performing up to 20 surgeries per day — at a steep cost to his patients and insurers.
Panos was accused of botching some operations, performing unnecessary surgery on healthy patients and not doing the procedures expected by other patients.