Staten Island Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for $1.9 Million Baby Formula Scheme

BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, Vladislav Kotlyar was sentenced by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz II to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $738,000 in restitution and forfeit approximately $1 million for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain specialty baby formula.  Kotlyar pleaded guilty to mail fraud in March 2023.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, announced the sentence.

Kotlyar submitted and caused the submission of forged prescriptions and medical records for specialty baby formula that was paid for by health insurers. Kotlyar obtained prescriptions and medical records for infants who were prescribed baby formula and forged those records to obtain specialty baby formula. After receiving the specialty baby formula, Kotlyar fabricated issues with the shipments, including by impersonating the infants’ parents, to falsely claim that shipments were damaged or contained the incorrect formula to acquire additional formula at no additional cost. Kotlyar then sold the fraudulently obtained formula. A portion of Kotlyar’s scheme occurred during a national shortage of infant formula. 

Trial Attorney Patrick J. Campbell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case. Assistant United States Attorney Claire S. Kedeshian of the Eastern District of New York’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.

The Defendant:

VLADISLAV KOTLYAR
Age:  45
Staten Island, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-75 (WFK)