Owner of Mass. Physical Therapy Clinic Sentenced to 3 Years for $7M Auto Fraud Scheme

The owner of a Massachusetts physical therapy clinic who defrauded 24 auto insurers by submitting largely bogus treatment claims was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison and ordered to pay $7,383,756 in restitution.

Gyulnara Bayryshova, the 57-year-old owner of the Brighton Physical Therapy Center, was one of four people who were indicted in February 2021 by the US Attorney’s Office in Boston on felony insurance fraud charges. All four pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud and three have been sentenced.

Prosecutors say that from 2015 to 2020, Bayryshova and her employees falsified medical records to make it appear auto accident victims were treated by licensed therapists. They performed unnecessary treatments, including after patients indicated they no longer needed treatment, charging papers say. The team also paid kickbacks to patients who referred new patients, according to the indictment.

An undercover agent with the FBI visited the Brighton clinic and feigned neck injuries due to a car accident, according to the indictment. Bayryshova referred the agent to an attorney (who is not identified) who negotiated a $10,000 settlement with an auto insurer. The clinic routinely billed the insurer for services that were not performed, the indictment says.

In a sentencing memorandum, the US Attorney’s Office says Bayryshova submitted 665 personal injury protection claims to insurers seeking $2,862,485. She also submitted 438 bodily injury claims for a total of $5,082,111, the memo says.

The government said Brighton Physical Therapy was among the top ten insurance billers in the state even though it was open only 12 hours a week.

“These defendants were able to earn a living (often only working two or three half days a week), receive a salary, purchase homes and expensive cars, all while providing very limited services and living off the backs of these insurance companies,” the government said in a sentencing memorandum.

Bayryshova pleaded guilty to one count of felony mail fraud on March 27. US District Judge Richard G. Stearns sentenced her to three years in prison following two years of restitution on Wednesday. On Thursday, the judge allowed the government to take a downpayment on Bayryshova’s restitution by approving the forfeiture of $7,834 in cash that seized by federal agents at her home in Chelsea.

Raya Bagardi, a 38-year-old licensed physical therapy assistant at Bayryshova’s clinic, was sentenced on July 19 to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $2,301,645.

Slava Pride, a 42-year-old physical therapy assistant at the clinic, was sentenced on July 13 to two years in prison and ordered to pay $2,301.645 in restitution.

A fourth conspirator, Anna Barenboym, pleaded guilty in February but has notyet been sentenced. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.