NEWARK — In opening arguments Tuesday in Bernard Greenspan’s federal bribery trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Walsman didn’t mince words about why the Bergen County physician was sitting at the defense counsel’s table.
“This case is about a doctor who took bribes from a corrupt blood lab in exchange for an agreement to send that lab patients’ blood,” Walsman said, as Greenspan, wearing a dark sweater under a charcoal suit, sat expressionless next to his attorneys in U.S. District Judge William H. Walls’ Newark courtroom.
Greenspan, indicted by a grand jury in March 2016, is one of 31 physicians charged in a multi-million dollar kickback scheme involving patient referrals to Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services, a Parsippany-based company that has since been ordered to forfeit its remaining assets.
He’s the first to take their case to trial; of those physicians charged in the case, 27 have since pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors allege Greenspan, 79, took more than $200,000 from the company over seven years in the form of “rent” payments, cash and services for friends under an explicit agreement to refer patients to BLS for blood testing.
Walsman told the jury that Greenspan’s referrals alone generated more than $3 million in revenue for the company.
“A patient’s blood is not the doctor’s to sell, but that is exactly what the defendant, Bernard Greenspan, did,” said Walsman, who is prosecuting the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Minish.
Greenspan’s attorneys, Damian Conforti and Eric Kanefsky, indicated they intend to show Greenspan did no such thing, but rather pursued a legal relationship with the company to his patients’ benefit.
In opening arguments, Conforti argued one phrase of the indictment would prove the lynchpin of the jury’s ultimate decision.
“That phrase is ‘knowingly and intentionally,'” he said, referring to Count One of the 10-count indictment, which charges Greenspan with conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Travel Act.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, Greenspan faces three counts each of actual violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Travel Act, as well as three counts of wire fraud.
Near the heart of the prosecution’s case is space the company rented from Greenspan — for what prosecutors say were ever-increasing fees — to house a BLS phlebotomist in his office to collect blood.
Prosecutors contend the rental agreement and posting of the phlebotomist were intended to disguise bribes paid to Greenspan for patients referred for testing, while the defense has framed the move as simply a good value for Greenspan’s patients.
“(BLS President) David Nicoll sold Dr. Greenspan on that invaluable service, and he sold Dr. Greenspan on the legality of that (rental) agreement,” Conforti said.
Nicoll, a former pharmaceutical sales rep, started Biodiagnostic with his brother, Scott. Both men have since pleaded guilty under agreements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office that Walsman told the jury require the Nicolls to testify truthfully at trial.
Prosecutors have said the men lived what Walsman described as a “wildly extravagant lifestyle,” spending millions on high-end sports cars, jet trips and wild nights at gentlemen’s clubs.
Walsman told the jury that after state law was changed to prohibit clinical labs from renting collection space in doctors’ offices, the company continued to pay Greenspan as a “consultant” through a front company run by Craig Nordman, a BLS employee.
Conforti argued that testimony at trial will show Greenspan actually performed the consulting work and never took payment until after his discussions with Nordman were finished.
The defense attorney also dismissed the government’s allegations Greenspan took cash bribes from the company, and that BLS had hired the doctor’s mistress — later fired for poor performance — at his request.
“This … has no place in this courtroom,” Conforti said of the latter allegation, arguing it was intended to embarrass the doctor unnecessarily. While Greenspan knew the woman, he said, she applied for the job through normal means.
But Walsman said an additional $720 payment BLS had been paying to Greenspan on top of its rent was raised to more than $1,700 after the woman was fired.
The trial, which could last more than a month, is expected to resume Thursday.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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