6 NJ Residents Charged In $20M Healthcare Fraud & Kickback Scheme

Six New Jersey residents have been charged in an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced on Thursday.

The alleged scheme involved a doctor and other medical professionals issuing medically unnecessary prescriptions to a pharmacist in exchange for cash kickbacks, Frazer said.

Five of the people charged pled guilty in connection with the scheme, while the sixth person charged pled not guilty.

“The District of New Jersey remains committed to aggressively rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse committed by doctors, pharmacists, and medical professionals who betray their patients in pursuit of greed,” Frazer said. “Our office will continue to ensure that those individuals who bilk our insurance systems to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars face swift justice.”

According to documents filed in these cases and statements made in court, pharmacy owner Sherif Elmasri, 45, of Morganville, paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to several health care providers from October 2022 to November 2025.

These payments were made in exchange for the providers issuing prescriptions for high-reimbursement medications, which Elmasri selected, to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, Frazer said.

Elmasri personally profited from these prescriptions and the insurance claims it generated for his pharmacies.

One of the providers involved in the scheme was Dr. Boris Veysman, 48, of Freehold, an emergency medicine doctor with offices in New Jersey.

According to authorities, Elmasri paid Veysman to issue prescriptions recommended by Elmasri to Medicare beneficiaries Elmasri referred to Veysman from May 2023 to December 2024.

Veysman, at times, did not examine the patients prior to issuing the prescriptions, Frazer said.

Ashlee Maixner, 39, of Lakehurst, and Nikki Steidle, 53, of Toms River, were advanced practice nurses who worked for Veysman and are also alleged to have received illegal kickbacks from Elmasri for issuing prescriptions.

Stephanie Cupo, 45, of South Plainfield, also worked for Veysman and submitted prior authorizations with false information to increase the likelihood that the prior authorizations she prepared would be approved by Medicare and other health care benefit programs, Frazer said.

Separately, Janet Tadros, 59, of Union City, was the office manager of a neurology practice in Jersey City.

Between December 2023 and November 2025, authorities said Tadros solicited and received cash kickbacks of $3,000 per week in exchange for sending Elmasri’s pharmacies medically unnecessary prescriptions for patients who were not evaluated or prescribed the medications and that were sent without the provider’s knowledge or authorization.

In total, the defendants are alleged to have caused a loss of approximately $20,684,264 to Medicare and Medicaid.

“Each of the defendants had a unique role in this alleged scheme, but the common thread is a complete disrespect for the Medicare and Medicaid programs that so many Americans rely on,” said Newark Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy.

“The defendants defrauded these programs through kickbacks that lined their pockets, while over $20 million taxpayer dollars were quietly disappearing,” Roddy continued. “The FBI will continue to root out conspiracies to commit health care fraud and restore balance to a system that will not be shaken by these disruptors.”

Elmasri pled guilty to a two-count Information charging him with conspiring to commit health care fraud and to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute on June 16, 2025.

Veysman pled guilty to a two-count Information charging him with conspiring to commit health care fraud and unlawfully distribute controlled substances on June 17, 2025.

Cupo pled guilty to an Information charging her with conspiring to make false statements relating to health care matters and to use a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number issued to another person on January 7, 2026.

Steidle pled guilty to an Information charging her with conspiring to defraud the United States, solicit and receive kickbacks, offer and pay kickbacks, and unlawfully distribute controlled substances on June 30, 2026.

Tadros pled guilty to a two-count Information charging her with conspiring to commit health care fraud and to violate the Anti-Kickback statute on July 7, 2026.

Maixner was charged by indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States, solicit and receive kickbacks, offer and pay kickbacks, unlawfully distribute controlled substances, and two counts of soliciting and receiving a kickback.

She was arraigned before Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in Newark on June 25, 2026, and pled not guilty.

Veysman, Steidle, and Maixner are separately charged with allegedly conspiring to unlawfully distribute controlled substances to patients without assessing them.

The charges of conspiracy carry a statutory maximum of five years imprisonment as well as a maximum fine equal to twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss caused by the offense.

The charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and violations of the Anti-Kickback statute each carry a statutory maximum of ten years imprisonment.