A Manhattan man has been sentenced to 2 ½ to 7 ½ years in prison and fined $800,000 for perpetrating a massive no-fault insurance fraud through a criminal enterprise known as the St. Nicholas Group.

Aron Goldman, 59, and co-defendant Matthew Keschner, 38, stole more than $6.2 million from automobile insurance companies over a five-year period.

Keschner has been sentenced to 1 ½ to 4 ½ years in prison and fined $750,000.

On Dec. 13, 2010, following a three month trial,  a jury in New York State Supreme Court convicted Goldman and Keschner of multiple felonies including enterprise corruption, grand larceny, money laundering, scheme to defraud, insurance fraud, and falsifying business records.

As proven at trial, both defendants were associated with the St. Nicholas Group, a no-fault insurance clinic located at 1090 St. Nicholas Ave., Manhattan.  The enterprise used runners to procure patients, and at times, stage phony motor vehicle accidents and bring potentially injured parties to the facility.  Services at the facility were provided by medical doctors, including Goldman and other healthcare professionals, including Keschner, a chiropractor. 

On a daily basis, Goldman, Keschner and numerous other providers prescribed unnecessary chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy and neurological treatments, procedures, and medical equipment, prosecutors said. They also falsified medical records and other documents, and submitted false claims to insurance companies. In some instances, the billed services were provided only in part or not provided at all. The enterprise followed the same fraudulent practices with people who came into the facility with injuries from both staged accidents and from legitimate accidents, billing insurers for treatment or equipment that was either unnecessary or not actually provided.

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