ALBANY, NY — Joseph Hernandez, Republican nominee for New York State Comptroller, responded today to the arrest and indictment of Long Island businessman, Nduka Lewis Ekpenyong, who allegedly stole more than $2.5 million from New York’s Medicaid program.
Nduka Lewis Ekpenyong has been charged for using his Brooklyn medical supply company, Duke Medical Inc., to submit more than 6,000 Medicaid claims for PediaSure with Peptides, a specialized formula intended only for those with severe gastrointestinal issues, over a two-year period.
Prosecutors allege only 10% of the billed purchases were ever actually made. Ekpenyong allegedly instructed staff at pediatric practices to alter doctors’ prescriptions so he could bill the state for the more expensive, medically unnecessary, product. He then used the proceeds to buy a Bentley and a Range Rover and to pay the mortgage on his Hewlett home. Prosecutors are now seeking $7.6 million through a civil forfeiture action.
“What should alarm every New York taxpayer is that this scheme ran for more than two years and racked up over 6000 fraudulent claims before anyone stopped it,” said Hernandez. “By the time the case was brought, the money had already been spent on luxury vehicles and a mansion, while children who needed nutrition went without. That is not true oversight. That is a Comptroller’s office that shows up years late to count the damage instead of preventing it.”
The Comptroller’s office is responsible for auditing the state’s Medicaid spending, and under Tom DiNapoli that duty has gone unmet again and again. Over $158 million of fraud in New York City, and now a Hewlett businessman billing Medicaid more than 6000 times for a pediatric formula that, prosecutors say, was only actually purchased about one time in ten.
By Hernandez’s own accounting, more than $4.5 billion in taxpayer money has been lost to Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse on DiNapoli’s watch, a figure that keeps climbing while the state budget has skyrocketed from $120.6 billion to more than $277 billion during his tenure.
“DiNapoli was handed this office in a backroom deal in 2007, and in the 19 years since, he has treated the most powerful watchdog job in this state like a part-time hobby,” Hernandez said. “He has let Medicaid become an open ATM for anyone willing to file a fake claim. New Yorkers are tired of learning about the theft only after the money is gone.”
Hernandez pledged that as Comptroller he will treat Medicaid fraud as the emergency it is. On day one, he will order a full forensic audit of the entire Medicaid program to determine exactly where the money is going, which services are being billed, and whether taxpayers are getting what they pay for. He will build a dedicated Fraud Strike Task Force inside the Comptroller’s office.
This will include a data and audit team trained on the highest-risk programs, including medical supply billing, home care, and long-term care. The team will use real-time data to flag suspicious billing, cross-check claims against the products and services actually delivered, coordinate directly with law enforcement, and restore the Comptroller’s pre-audit power to stop bad payments before they ever leave the treasury.
“Medicaid exists to protect the most vulnerable, not to bankroll luxury cars for fraudsters while sick kids are left behind,” Hernandez added. “I am running for Comptroller to put real-time fraud detection in place and stop theft before the money walks out the door, not to send out a statement after the damage is already done.”
“Let me be clear, this is not a win for the Democrats. New York deserves real leadership and a Comptroller who protects taxpayers, rather than one who just shows up to clean up his own messes.”