A federal grand jury has indicted Richard Shusterman, age 50, of Highland Beach, Florida, and Jonathan E. Rosenberg, age 44, of West Orange, New Jersey, on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud equity investors and asset-based lenders in medical accounts receivable of more than $275 million. The indictment was returned on September 4, 2013, and unsealed today upon the arrest of the defendants.
The guilty pleas of Robert Feldman, age 65, of Beach Haven, New Jersey, and Douglas A. Kuber, age 53, of Livingston, New Jersey, were also unsealed today. Feldman and Kuber pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on September 3, 2013 and October 11, 2012, respectively.
The indictment and guilty pleas were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
“The indictment alleges that the defendants perpetrated a brazen and complex Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $275 million,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to the 10-count indictment, Richard Shusterman was a shareholder and president of International Portfolio Inc. (IPI). Robert Feldman was part owner of IPI and was also the president of United Consulting Inc. Shusterman and Feldman represented that IPI was a company that had experience in the field of medical accounts receivable, including their purchase, valuation, collection, and resale. Beginning on June 21, 2006, Shusterman and Feldman, through United Consulting and IPI, engaged in the business of buying and selling consumer debt, including medical debt portfolios.
According to the indictment, Jonathan E. Rosenberg and Douglas A. Kuber operated Account Receivable Services LLC (ARS). ARS invested in medical accounts receivable purchased from IPI using funds borrowed from investors interested in asset-based lending. Rosenberg was also president of two other companies that recruited investors for medical accounts receivable portfolios purchased from IPI.
From December 2006 through June 2008, IPI paid more than $25 million to purchase over $4.1 billion in medical accounts receivable, comprising more than 3,872,514 past due patient accounts that the hospitals and other entities selling the accounts had been unsuccessful in collecting. Beginning in June 2007, Shusterman, Rosenberg, Feldman, and Kuber began promoting an investment model to individual investors and investment fund managers.
To implement the investment model, the conspirators allegedly agreed that Shusterman, through IPI, would batch accounts receivable from IPI’s inventory into discrete debt portfolios with specified total outstanding account balances. These portfolios would then be offered for sale to investors. In addition, Shusterman and IPI would manage all the collection efforts for each debt portfolio IPI sold.