TOMS RIVER – A local chiropractor has pled guilty to money laundering and theft charges.
Carlo Amato, former owner of Chiropractic Care Consultants and Accident Recovery Therapy in Lakewood, will face a sentence of up to 10 years in state prison—with a 5-year parole disqualifier—for first-degree money laundering. He will serve consecutive to 5 years for his second-degree theft by deception charge.
Amato overbilled insurance companies from January 2013 to December 2016. He used trust funds set up in his minor children’s names to funnel money to Russia, where his wife and children now reside. He wired more than $1.5 million into personal overseas accounts.
While on bail for those charges, he was re-arrested for defrauding the state and Prudential Insurance Company of $116,000 in disability benefits between November 2013 and May 2015.
A search warrant of his Beachwood home uncovered $182,515 in cash hidden in a wall and various form of fraudulent ID. Authorities also found hand-written plans on how to flee the county undetected by law enforcement.
