Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that on Thursday, May 9, 2019, Carlo Amato, 57, of Beachwood, was sentenced to fifteen years in New Jersey State Prison by the Honorable Michael T. Collins, J.S.C.
On April 9, 2018, officials say that Amato pled guilty to First Degree Money Laundering.
According to reports, Amato, the former owner of Chiropractic Care Consultants and Accident Recovery Physical Therapy in Lakewood, admitted to overbilling several insurance companies from January 2013 to December 2016. Amato further admitted that he used trust accounts set up in his minor children’s names to funnel the illegal proceeds to Russia.
During this period of time, police said that Amato wired over $1.5 million overseas. For this offense, Judge Collins sentenced Amato to ten years in New Jersey State Prison with five years of parole ineligibility.
Additionally, officials said that while out on bail on the First Degree Money Laundering charge, Amato was re-arrested for defrauding the State of New Jersey and the Prudential Insurance Company out of approximately $116,000.00 in disability benefits.
Reports stated that this theft occurred between November 2013 and May 2015 when Amato, while still working at his Chiropractic office, applied for and received disability funds for injuries he alleged kept him from working.
After learning of this new offense, authorities executed a search warrant on Amato’s residence in Beachwood in December of 2017. At that time, Detectives recovered approximately $182,000.00 in cash hidden in a wall as well as various forms of fraudulent identification.
On April 9, 2018, Amato pled guilty to a Second Degree charge of Theft by Deception for defrauding the State and the Prudential Insurance Company, said reports.
On May, 9, Judge Collins sentenced Amato to a consecutive five years in New Jersey State Prison.
Prosecutor Billhimer stated, “Amato’s pattern of criminal behavior occurred over a number of years, our Detectives, Assistant Prosecutors and Federal partners did an amazing job of putting all the pieces together in this case.”
Prosecutor Billhimer praised the efforts of this joint investigation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigations Unit.
Special Agent Christine Parr of the FBI and Detective John LaRaia and Agent Katerina Huxel of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office headed the primary investigation. In addition, the National Insurance Crime Bureau provided support during the initial stages of the investigation.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Jill O’Malley and Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Heisler represented the State.