BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A former Wallingford doctor who sold opioid prescriptions for cash was sentenced in Bridgeport on Wednesday to seven years and six months in prison for controlled substances and health care fraud offenses, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Anatoly Braylovsky, 52, will have his federal prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release, prosecutors said, adding that his charges are related to the illegal distribution of prescription medication through his medical practice.
Prosecutors said Braylovsky was an internal medicine physician operating the Family Practice of Greater New Haven, LLC, on North Main Street in Wallingford; his practice accepted patients who were insured by Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance plans.
In 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Wallingford Police Department began receiving complaints regarding Braylovsky’s prescribing practices, prosecutors said. About two years later, investigators from the DEA and Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection’s Drug Control Division informed Braylovsky that they were concerned about his prescribing practices and that some of his patients had a criminal history, according to prosecutors.
Subsequent investigations discovered that Braylovsky continued to prescribe a large amount of opioid-based pills such as Alprazolam, or “Xanax”, and Adderall to several patients, prosecutors said, adding that investigators received information that some of his patients received medically unnecessary prescriptions for these drugs and were then selling them for profit.
Prosecutors said that Braylovsky was selling prescriptions for large amounts of cash and that some of the patients who had their prescriptions filled supplied pills to Braylovsky.
According to prosecutors, around October 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General began investigating after becoming aware that patients of Braylovsky were using their Medicaid or Medicare insurance to pay for medically unnecessary prescriptions.
For three years, Braylovsky provided a patient named Jennifer Bousquet with monthly prescriptions for 170 oxycodone 30mg pills, 75 Adderall 20mg pills and 30 Alprazolam 2mg pills, prosecutors said.
While investigating, law enforcement used a confidential source who was both a patient of Braylovsky and an associate of Bousquet to pay Braylovsky cash in exchange for a prescription of oxycodone. On four occasions, between October 2019 and January 2020, the source visited Braylovsky’s office, gave him $1,600 in cash and received a prescription for 150 oxycodone 30mg pills, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Braylovsky billed Medicaid for each office visit even though he performed no physical examination and did not discuss the source’s health; additionally, the source provided Braylovsky with $1,600 in cash for a prescription during an office visit on March 18, 2020, and delivered $1,600 to Braylovsky’s car after a telehealth appointment on April 30, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DEA agents took the oxycodone pills into evidence after each prescription was filled, prosecutors said, noting that Medicaid paid for each filled prescription.
Between approximately January 2016 and May 2020, Medicare and Medicaid paid over $1.6 million for schedule II medications such as oxycodone that were prescribed by Braylovsky, according to prosecutors, who said during that time, Medicare and Medicaid also paid Braylovsky’s practice more than $590,000 for routine visits.
Prosecutors said the investigation revealed Braylovsky billed Medicare and Medicaid a total of over $199,388 for illegitimate office visits and for unnecessary prescriptions. Both Braylovsky and Bousquet were arrested on June 4, 2020.
After being released on bond and awaiting trial, prosecutors said Braylovsky expressed a desire in August 2021 to hire a hitman to kill or intimidate the confidential source who purchased oxycodone from him; he met with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman and was arrested on Aug. 27, 2021. He has been detained ever since.
Braylovsky pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, oxycodone, and one count of health care fraud on Dec. 21, 2023; he was ordered by a judge to pay $199,388 in restitution, prosecutors said.
Bousquet pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, oxycodone and awaits sentencing, according to prosecutors.
In a separate civil case, prosecutors said Braylovsky and Family Practice of Greater New Haven, LLC, previously entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal and state governments and paid $398,777 to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing for medical services not rendered and issuing medically unnecessary controlled substances prescriptions to certain Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The settlement covers the time between January 2016 through June 2020.
Prosecutors said Braylovsky was the sole medical practitioner of the practice, which is no longer operational.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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