Baby formula fraudster pleads guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court

March 20, 2023 Robert Abruzzese

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace announced the guilty plea of a Staten Island man who was found guilty of defrauding insurance plans for specialty baby formula. Photo: Andy Eames/AP.

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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Vladislav Kotlyar pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn for defrauding insurance plans and medical suppliers by fraudulently obtaining specialty baby formula.

The guilty plea was announced by Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

Kotlyar, a 43-year-old from Staten Island, faces up to 20 years in prison for mail fraud, for allegedly having submitted forged prescriptions and medical records for specialty baby formula paid for by health insurers.

He obtained prescriptions and medical records for infants who were prescribed specialty baby formula and falsified those records to get additional formula. Kotlyar also fabricated issues with the shipments to receive more formula at no additional cost.

Kotlyar and his co-conspirators submitted over $1.9 million in fraudulent claims to health insurers, even during a national shortage of baby formula. As part of the scheme, Kotlyar agreed to forfeit approximately $1 million and pay more than $738,000 in restitution.

The guilty plea was made before U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz.