Suburban trio plead guilty to years of health care fraud

One person from Arlington Heights and two from Glenview pleaded guilty Thursday to one count each of health care fraud, authorities said.

The three were charged with defrauding private insurers for payment of physical therapy and other services that were never rendered, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Inessa Katsnelson, 55, of Glenview, also known by several aliases, is a personal trainer who worked out of a Northbrook gym. She participated in a scheme to defraud private health and auto insurers from 2006 through October 2018, authorities said.

In exchange for the use of information by purported patients to submit false insurance claims, Katsnelson provided benefits including free personal training sessions, massages and the exhaustion of their annual health care deductible costs, officials said.

Maya Yakubovich, 56, of Arlington Heights, a medical claims biller for several North suburban health care facilities, participated in the scheme with Katsnelson and others from 2006 through October 2018. Yakubovich knowingly submitted false claims and at times created false medical records to support those claims, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Beatta Kabbani, 55, of Glenview, a physical therapist, president and secretary of a medical group in Northfield and Glenview, pleaded guilty in a separate case based on her involvement in a related scheme. From September 2011 to November 2016, Kabbani submitted fraudulent claims to insurance companies, officials said.

The indictment against Katsnelson, Yakubovich and Kabbani alleged they and others defrauded nine insurance companies of about $6.5 million.

Prosecutors said Katsnelson was the ringleader of the scheme. Health care fraud is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Cases are pending against two others involved in the scheme: medical claims biller Tetyana Voronkina, 60, of Mundelein and massage therapist Viktor Danchuk, 62, of Roselle, authorities said.

Yakubovich's sentencing is scheduled for May 24, while Katsnelson's is set for May 26. Kabbani's sentencing has not been scheduled, officials said.