Seven people have been charged for their roles in conspiracies to pay and receive kickbacks in exchange for ordering genetic tests. Three complaints were unsealed charging the following individuals with conspiring to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute: Lee Besen, 64, of Waverly, Pennsylvania, is charged in two separate complaints, one with Kimberly Schmidt, 45, of Moscow, Pennsylvania, and the other with Terri Haines, of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The third complaint charges Yitzachok “Barry” Kurtzer, 60, and Robin Kurtzer, 59, both of Monsey, New York; Amber Harris, 28, of Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Shanelyn Kennedy, 25, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Besen and Kurtzer were both primary care physicians with separate offices in the Scranton area. From at least 2018, Besen and Kurtzer each began accepting monthly cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for collecting DNA samples from Medicare patients and sending them for genetic tests to clinical laboratories in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The cash kickbacks ranged from $500 to $5,000 and Besen and Kurtzer typically accepted the cash in their respective offices, at times behind locked doors. At one point, Kurtzer and his wife, Robin, complained that they were not getting paid enough and renegotiated a higher kickback and bribery fee.
