By J. Littlejohn
The bribery case against former Brooklyn state assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny has been dismissed.
Brook-Krasny had been accused of helping a physician run a so-called “pill mill” to the tune of $6.3 million. The ex-official was acquitted this past summer of conspiracy and fraud charges.
“We are absolutely thrilled that this unjust prosecution has finally come to an end with a full dismissal of all of the charges against Mr. Brook-Krasny,” said defense lawyer James McGovern of Hogan-Lovells.
Brook-Krasny was born in Moscow, and is the first Soviet-born Russian speaker to become a member of the New York State Assembly. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected on November 7, 2006 to represent the 46th District, which covers the neighborhoods of Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Dyker Heights, and Seagate, in Brooklyn. He served until July 7, 2015.
In 2017, as part of “Operation Avalanche” Brook-Krasny was arrested on charges of healthcare fraud, according to Wikipedia. “He was indicted along with eight other individuals and corporate entities with schemes to illegally sell prescriptions for over 3.7 million opioid painkillers, to defraud Medicaid and Medicare of millions of dollars and to commit money laundering through two Brooklyn medical clinics owned by Dr. Lazar Feygin. Feygin pleaded guilty to 16 charges including conspiracy, criminal sale of a prescription and health care fraud.”
On July 25, 2019 Brook-Krasny was found not guilty of five felony charges of conspiracy, health care fraud, and scheming to defraud the state. “A mistrial was declared on the other three misdemeanor commercial bribery charges after the jury could not reach a verdict. A decision about whether to retry the remaining charges is expected by September 25, 2019.”
In June, Noah Goldberg of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that between 2012 and 2017, “more than 6.3 million pills of oxycodone were prescribed as part of the ring that took in more than $24 million from the scheme, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York. Working for Quality Laboratory Services in Sheepshead Bay, Brook-Krasny allegedly handled urinalyses for the ring, orchestrated by Dr. Lazar Feygin, according to prosecutors. Feygin pleaded guilty to a slew of charges including conspiracy, criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance and health care fraud in March.”
