How does a Scientologist plunge down the dwindling spiral from the top of the Scientology Bridge at OT8 to become an inmate in US Federal prison? The answer is simple: Pure greed and stealing $80 million dollars from insurance companies and the US Government’s Medicare program.
Following his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, Scientologist and chiropractor James “Jay” Spina was sentenced to nine years (108 months) in prison.
James Spina is presently incarcerated at FCI Otisville which is located in Otisville, New York.
From the 2021 US DoJ press release on James Spina:
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JAMES SPINA was sentenced to 108 months in prison for his participation in a widespread health care fraud scheme through the fraudulent operation of Dolson Avenue Medical (“DAM” or the “Practice”), a multi-disciplinary medical clinic located in Middletown, New York. SPINA previously pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas, who imposed today’s sentence.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “James Spina led a sophisticated, widespread, and callous scheme that put greed and profits ahead of patients and their well-being. In doing so, he betrayed his professional obligations and bilked insurance companies and Medicare out of millions of dollars. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of federal and state investigative agencies, Spina will now serve a lengthy sentence in federal prison.”…
As part of the fraudulent scheme, one of the doctors who worked at DAM and the Associated Businesses introduced a lucrative procedure called a facet injection. Because the facet joints to which the injections are applied are near the spinal cord, such procedures are high-risk, with a small margin for error. The doctor had no formal training in the procedure, and taught himself by shadowing other doctors and watching YouTube videos. JAMES SPINA was intimately involved with all billing-related aspects of the facet injections, and continued to encourage their use even after several patients suffered serious, adverse events, and one patient died of complications following a facet injection.
As a consequence of the above-described scheme, a substantial number of claims submitted by DAM and the Associated Businesses to Medicare and other Insurance Providers were false and fraudulent.
James Spina took a plea deal in which he was sentenced to 108 months in US Federal Prison. As part of his plea deal, Spina was ordered to pay $9,760,555.20 in restitution and to forfeit $9,105,741.61 in assets. The financial penalties for Spina’s crime total $18,866,296.81.
James Spina and his brother Jeffrey Spina, also a Scientologist and an OT8, were chiropractors whose criminal scheme focused on referring thousands of their patients to Dr. Charles Bagley, a fellow co-conspirator, to receive unnecessary facet injections. Bagley, a neurologist and pain management specialist was charged along with the Spina brothers. These facet injections were enormously profitable.
The Spina brothers scheme operated out of their Dolson Avenue Medical (DAM) offices in Middletown, New York. Andrea Grossman, the business manager of the clinic was also charged along with the practice administrator Kim Spina.
One patient died from complications after receiving an unnecessary facet injection. Why this was not charged as homicide or manslaughter remains an open question.
Now that he is serving his prison time, James Spina has decided he does not like the idea of nine years in prison and has appealed to vacate his sentence.
Spina claims in a pro-se filing that there is a technicality: He agreed that he had violated New York State law but never agreed that he violated US Federal law.
Spina’s prison appeal is as stupid as it gets for several reasons.
First, when he plead guilty and accepted his 108 month sentence, Spina agreed to waive his right to an appeal. The waiver of an appeal is a standard part of any plea deal.
Second, Spina already filed an appeal that was denied on July 20, 2022.
Third, Spina is claiming ineffective assistance of counsel in this new appeal. However, his criminal defense attorney negotiated the plea deal Spina accepted. Had he gone to trial and been convicted, Spina could have been sentenced to 20 years or more.
A reminder to Jay Spina: Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
James Spina’s handwritten pro se appeal and the DOJ’s response:
The Government’s Opposition to Spina:
Spina’s Reply to the Government: