Doctor Gets 37 Months In Jail For Structuring Over $1.4 Million

TRENTON, N.J. - A physician who ran a medical office in Parlin, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 37 months in prison for structuring over $1.4 million in order to avoid reporting requirements, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Joseph A. Spinapolice, 73, of Palm Coast, Florida, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with structuring financial transactions. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Spinapolice was a physician who operated Middlesex Healthcare Associates LLC, a medical office in Parlin. Spinapolice’s practice did not accept insurance and received payment primarily in cash. Spinapolice admitted that from January 2013 through July 2015, he deposited a total of $1,463,974 in cash proceeds via more than 198 separate transactions, all done in an amount of less than $10,000 in order to avoid currency reporting requirements.

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Wolfson sentenced Spinapolice to a year of supervised release. Spinapolice also consented to the entry of a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $1,463,974.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, and special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher, with the investigation. He also thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Borough of Sayreville Police Department for their assistance.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel R. Joseph Gribko of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

Defense counsel: Matthew S. Adams Esq., Roseland, New Jersey