Ex-podiatrist from Youngstown is sentenced for fraud scheme

CLEVELAND -- A 74-year-old former Youngstown podiatrist has been fined $2,000 and sentenced to three years' probation for committing health-care fraud, the U.S. attorney said.
Dr. Walter M. Malkin, who resides on East Arms Drive, Liberty, made full restitution of $67,500 in Medicare overpayments and voluntarily surrendered his Ohio podiatry license, the U.S. attorney said. He also entered into a separate agreement with the government providing for payment of an additional $70,500 in settlement of certain other civil claims related to his Medicare billings.
Dr. Malkin had pleaded guilty June 25 to a one-count information charging that he willfully executed a scheme to defraud Medicare between January 1998 and September 2002.
In the plea agreement, Dr. Malkin acknowledged submitting false claims for Medicare reimbursement for a surgery known as avulsion of the toe, in cases where, in fact, he hadn't performed that procedure, but rather had performed only routine nail care, for which he wasn't entitled to Medicare reimbursement.
The FBI investigated the case.