East Coast Orthotics and Prosthetics Lawsuit Dismissed

The East Coast Orthotics and Prosthetics lawsuit — a federal whistleblower case accusing East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corp. (ECOP) of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid through exclusive contracts with two major New York City hospitals — was dismissed with prejudice on April 30, 2024. U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon threw the case out on procedural grounds, finding that the fraud allegations had already been publicly disclosed in a nearly identical 2015 lawsuit and that the whistleblowers had not shown they brought independent knowledge to the case.¹

What the Whistleblowers Alleged

The suit, United States v. East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corporation (Case No. 1:18-cv-02600), was filed on May 2, 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It was a qui tam action under the False Claims Act, brought by private relators on behalf of the federal government.²

The defendants were ECOP, its CEO and co-founder Vincent A. Benenati, NYU Langone Health, and Maimonides Medical Center.³

The core allegation was that ECOP held exclusive contracts with NYU Langone and Maimonides to supply durable medical equipment — items like custom orthotics, prosthetics, and other prescribed devices — to patients at those hospitals. The relators argued these were not legitimate business arrangements but illegal kickback schemes: the hospitals steered their DME patients to ECOP, and both sides profited at the expense of federal healthcare programs.³

The complaint claimed these contracts violated two federal healthcare statutes:

The Stark Law, which bars physicians from referring patients for certain designated health services, including DME, to entities the physicians have a financial relationship with, absent an exception.
The Anti-Kickback Statute, which criminalizes offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving anything of value to induce referrals for services covered by federal healthcare programs.

Because the arrangements allegedly violated both statutes, the relators argued that every reimbursement claim submitted for DME under the exclusive contracts was a “false claim” under the federal False Claims Act and its New York State counterpart.³

Both the federal government and New York State declined to intervene, leaving the relators to litigate on their own.²

Why the Case Was Dismissed

The case never reached trial or a ruling on the underlying fraud claims. It was resolved on a procedural defense written into the False Claims Act: the public disclosure bar.

That provision blocks copycat suits. If the same allegations have already been made public through a prior legal proceeding, a government report, or the news media, a new relator can proceed only by qualifying as an “original source” — someone with direct and independent knowledge of the fraud who voluntarily gave that information to the government before filing.³

The defendants pointed to a 2015 “J. Doe Complaint,” an earlier qui tam suit the court described as containing “near-identical” allegations against the same parties. That earlier case had also alleged fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billing through ECOP’s exclusive hospital contracts, and it had also been dismissed after the government declined to intervene.³

Judge Gershon agreed that the 2015 suit was a prior public disclosure of the same allegations. That triggered the bar, and the relators then needed to show they were original sources. The court found they fell short. Their claims of having provided information to the government before filing were “conclusory,” and they failed to plead facts showing independent, non-public knowledge of the fraud. The relators had been given multiple chances to fix the problem, filing through a Third Amended Complaint, but never cured the deficiency.³

The federal False Claims Act claims were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled. The court denied further leave to amend, calling additional attempts “futile due to repeated failures.”¹ The related New York State claims were dismissed without prejudice; the court simply declined to keep jurisdiction over them once the federal claims were gone, which leaves open the theoretical possibility of refiling in state court.³

The case was officially terminated on May 1, 2024. As of mid-2026, the docket shows no record of the relators filing an appeal to the Second Circuit.⁴

What the Dismissal Does and Does Not Decide

The ruling turned on who gets to bring a False Claims Act suit, not on whether ECOP did anything wrong. The court never evaluated whether ECOP’s exclusive contracts with NYU Langone Health and Maimonides Medical Center actually violated the Stark Law or the Anti-Kickback Statute. It never weighed the fraud allegations on their merits. A procedural gatekeeping rule ended the case; there was no finding that the underlying conduct was lawful.

About ECOP

East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corp. was founded in 1997 by brothers Vincent A. Benenati and Lawrence J. Benenati. Vincent serves as CEO and Lawrence as president. The company describes itself as the largest privately owned orthotics and prosthetics provider in the New York metropolitan area, with more than 240 employees and over 30 patient care locations across the tri-state area, including sites in the Buffalo and Rochester metros.⁵ Headquartered in Deer Park, New York, on Long Island, ECOP provides custom orthotics, prosthetics, durable medical equipment, and rehabilitation devices. It is accredited by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics and accepts major insurers including Medicare and Medicaid.⁶ The company remains operational as of 2026.

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Trellis Law. United States v. East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corporation
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CourtListener. United States of America v. East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corporation
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Midpage. United States v. East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corporation
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PACER Monitor. United States of America et al v. East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corporation et al
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East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. Corporate Information
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East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corp. East Coast Orthotic and Prosthetic Corp.