Complaint Filed by Brian Rafferty - Baker & Hostetler LLP Against Big Insurance Cabal Exposes Conspiracy and Malicious Prosecution that Led to Destruction of Minority-Owned Businesses
10 Jul 2023
Patent Infringement
Today's filing lists egregious steps taken by massive private insurance companies to destroy minority business owners personally and professionally by maliciously alleging fraud using falsified documentation and testimony
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aaron Durall and Neisha Zaffuto, minority business owners of Reliance Laboratory Testing and other ventures, have filed a complaint in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against major household-name insurance companies, including Florida Blue, UnitedHealth, Anthem, and Aetna. The complaint alleges these companies conspired to falsely accuse and maliciously prosecute Durall and Zaffuto of healthcare fraud, resulting in significant personal and business losses.
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In an extreme case of ruthless corporate subterfuge, the largest names in healthcare insurance targeted Durall and Zaffuto and harassed the pair for years, refusing to pay and then conspired to lobby the Justice Department to file charges of fraud, which was only made possible by the insurance companies' willingness to commit their own egregious fraud in delivering false claims of wrongdoing to federal prosecutors.
Ultimately, the corporate conspiracy to get rid of Durall and Zaffuto by putting them behind bars failed because the pair were able to prove in criminal court they had done nothing wrong. However, the damage caused by this conspiracy and malicious smear campaign resulted in the loss of millions of dollars, successful businesses, and three years spent fighting legal battles to prove their innocence. As detailed in the complaint, these professional business owners were subjected to threats and harassment, with the very real and horrifying prospect of imprisonment looming over them. This not only posed a potential impact on their families but also took a significant toll on their mental and emotional well-being.
"Today's complaint serves as a stark warning to all Americans about the extreme measures industry giants will take to safeguard their profits, even if it means resorting to lies and manipulating the justice system to their advantage," said Brian Rafferty, counsel for Durall and Zaffuto. "Durall and Zaffuto, over the course of a perilous three-year battle, demonstrated their innocence to a jury of their peers, using irrefutable evidence. We are confident today's complaint will ensure justice is served and private insurance companies are held accountable for conspiring to ruin the lives of those who dare to stand up to them."
Durall and Zaffuto had been leading highly successful Reliance Laboratory Testing, a healthcare company that obtained toxicology samples from various local treatment centers and hospitals, tested the samples, released results, and then submitted claims to private insurance companies for the testing. After years of providing essential healthcare services and investing in rural hospitals, Durall and Zaffuto were blindsided with fraud claims from Florida Blue and other insurance giants they often submitted claims to—simply because their business was too profitable according to the insurance cabal named in today's complaint.
Despite claims of fraud, the named insurance companies made no efforts to cessate their contracts with Reliance even though a clear stipulation was made that the contract could be terminated at any time if fraud was suspected. Instead, the companies named in the lawsuit, who offered health benefit plans to Durall's rural hospitals and acted as third-party administrators for self-insured health plans, reneged on their payment obligations. In 2016, the private insurance cabal named in today's complaint ratcheted up their attacks on Durall and Zaffuto by lobbying the Justice Department to eliminate Durall, Zaffuto, and Reliance through criminal charges.
The lawsuit alleges the named insurance cabal provided false documentation and testimonies, leading to Durall and Zaffuto's malicious prosecution. Despite the hardships they've endured, including shuttered businesses, tarnished reputations, and forced hospital sales, they emerged victorious, proving their innocence, with damning evidence, by exposing the lies and misinformation disseminated by the insurers.
The complaint claims Florida Blue and fellow defendants breached its duty by providing false information to the Department of Justice and ultimately lobbying the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida to file charges against Durall and Zaffuto. The defendants are also accused of submitting false evidence and failing to disclose to the same authorities that all claims had been correctly billed by the plaintiffs.
"This is a classic David vs Goliath story, and Neisha Zaffuto and I lived to tell it," said former rural hospital owner Aaron Durall. "Yes, we lost our business and lived with the terrible prospect of being imprisoned for something we didn't do. However, this complaint signifies something greater - an opportunity to call out powerful insurance companies that would stoop to corrupting the justice system through conspiracy and false allegations to dismantle thriving and well-managed rural community hospitals. We triumphed in our criminal case because we had the truth on our side, and we will prevail as we embark on yet another day in court with the filing of this lawsuit."
SOURCE Brian Rafferty - Baker & Hostetler LLP
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