Six Face Charges in $20.7M New Jersey Healthcare Fraud and Kickback Scheme

Six people got charged in a $20.7 million healthcare fraud and kickback operation that lasted 37 months. U.S. Attorney William Frazer made the announcement. Five have admitted guilt, but one still waits for trial.

The charges came from a criminal operation causing losses around $20,684,264 to Medicare and Medicaid programs from October 2022 through November 2025. Authorities charged all six on July 7. They appeared in federal district court at Camden before Judge Karen M. Williams.

“The District of New Jersey remains committed to aggressively rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse committed by doctors, pharmacists, and medical professionals who betray their patients in pursuit of greed,” said Frazer in a statement, per Hudson County View. “Our office will continue to ensure that those individuals who bilk our insurance systems to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars face swift justice.”

Sherif Elmasri is 45 and lives in Morganville. He owns a pharmacy. On June 16, 2025, he admitted guilt to conspiring in healthcare fraud and breaking the Anti-Kickback Statute. Court records reveal Elmasri gave kickbacks and bribes to multiple healthcare providers, who then wrote prescriptions for expensive medications that Medicare and Medicaid would pay for.

Dr. Boris Veysman works in emergency medicine. He’s 48 and from Freehold. He admitted guilt on June 17 to conspiring in healthcare fraud and giving out controlled substances without proper authority. Veysman took payments from Elmasri between roughly May 2023 and December 2024 to write prescriptions. Sometimes he didn’t even check patients first.

Nikki Steidle lives in Toms River and is 53 years old. She admitted guilt on June 30 to conspiring in defrauding the United States, taking kickbacks, giving kickbacks, and distributing controlled substances without legal permission. Stephanie Cupo, 45, from South Plainfield, admitted guilt on January 7. Her crimes? Conspiring to make false statements about healthcare matters and using someone else’s DEA registration number.

Janet Tadros is 59. She lives in Union City and admitted guilt on July 7 to conspiring in healthcare fraud and breaking the Anti-Kickback statute. Between December 2023 and November 2025, Tadros managed the office at a neurology practice in Jersey City. She took cash kickbacks — about $3,000 each week — for sending prescriptions patients didn’t need to pharmacies Elmasri owned.

Ashlee Maixner is 39 and from Lakehurst. An indictment charged her with crimes. She said she’s not guilty on June 25 when she appeared before Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in Newark. Conspiracy charges can mean up to five years in prison. Breaking healthcare fraud laws and the Anti-Kickback statutes can each mean ten years maximum.

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