BEACHWOOD – A Beachwood man and former Ocean County chiropractor was sentenced to 15 years on money laundering charges, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced.
On April 9, 2018, 57-year old Carlo Amato pled guilty to First Degree Money Laundering.
On May 9, 2019, Amato was sentenced to 15 years.
Amato is the former owner of Chiropractic Care Consultants and Accident Recovery Physical Therapy in Lakewood. Amato admitted to overbilling several insurance companies between January 2013 to December 2016. He also admitted to using trust accounts set up in his minor children’s names to funnel the illegal proceeds to Russia.
During this period of time, Amato wired over $1.5 million dollars overseas. For this offense, Amato was sentenced to ten years with a five year period of parole ineligibility on May 7, 2019.
While he was out on bail for the money laundering charge, Amato was re-arrested for defrauding the State of New Jersey and the Prudential Insurance Company out of approximately $116,000 in disability benefits. Between November 2013 and May 2015, while Amato was still working at his chiropractic offices, he applied for and received disability funds for injuries he alleged kept him from working.
In December of 2017, police executed a search warrant at Amato’s residence in Beachwood where they discovered approximately $182,000 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. On May, 9, 2019, Amato was sentenced to five years on this charge.
“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,” stated Prosecutor Billhimer.
A joint investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigations Unit. The primary investigation was conducted by Special Agent Christine Parr of the FBI and Detective John LaRaia and Agent Katerina Huxel of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
