WEST NEW YORK – The judge weighing state insurance fraud charges against Mayor Dr. Felix Roque will decide on July 8 whether to dismiss the charges or allow the case to proceed.
After hearing arguments by Roque’s lawyer and a state deputy attorney general on Roque’s motion to dismiss the charges, which were handed up by a state grand jury one year ago, Judge Christopher Kazlau scheduled the decision date in Superior Court in Hackensack on Monday, according to published reports.
Roque is accused of violating state health insurance law and defrauding insurers by taking $250,000 in kickbacks from a Boonton man who operated a chain of MRI labs, Diagnostic Imaging Affiliates.
Roque had referred patients to Diagnostic Imaging Affiliates and then allegedly failed to report those payments to the insurers, which covered the cost of the procedures.
Diagnostic Imaging’s owner, Rehan Zuberi, pled guilty in May 2015 to fraud charges and alleged the involvement of several other doctors. He and his wife are awaiting sentencing. They are also being sued for $7.4 million by insurance companies seeking to recoup fraudulent payouts.
Roque and his lead attorney, Christopher Adams, insist the mayor never took any payments. They say the state’s case relies solely on Zuberi’s testimony and accuse him of saying whatever prosecutors want in a deal for a lighter sentence.
Roque to learn fate of kickback case on July 8
