Sunny Hostin and her husband, Dr. Emmanuel Hostin, are preparing for a legal battle to fight accusations that he committed federal insurance fraud, Page Six has exclusively learned.
“The View” co-host and the orthopedic surgeon have hired legal eagle Mark Geragos and Daniel Thwaites after Emmanuel was named in one of the largest federal RICO cases ever filed in New York.
On Sunday, Geragos threatened legal action to the tune of $5 million against the American Transit Insurance Company, which named Emmanuel and his medical practice in its lawsuit.
In a letter seen by Page Six, Geragos blasted the lawsuit as “completely baseless and without any factual support,” and threatened to countersue for millions if the plaintiffs don’t withdraw what he called “false and defamatory allegations.”
The letter further accuses the insurance organization and its attorneys of waging “a public media smear campaign in the press to harass and defame Dr. Hostin, his wife and their children by attempting to weaponize his wife’s celebrity.”
“Your unscrupulous tactics are well known in the industry, and Dr. Hostin and his family will not be intimidated,” the letter read.
Emmanuel is one of 200 individuals named in the lawsuit filed on Dec. 17, 2024, and obtained by Page Six last week. The suit alleges that the doctor “knowingly provided fraudulent medical and other healthcare services including arthroscopic surgeries.”
Additionally he’s accused of billing American Transit “in exchange for kickbacks and/or other compensation which were disguised as dividends or other cash distributions,” according to the suit.
The Daily Mail was the first to report on the suit in which American Transit seeks at least $450 million.
“No fault fraud is a huge problem in New York. American Transit filed a lawsuit as part of its statutory responsibility to fight such fraud,” an attorney for the company told the outlet.
But Thwaites fired back describing the lawsuit as a “blanket, scattershot, meritless lawsuit by a near-bankrupt insurance carrier,” according to the outlet.
“It is meant to intimidate and harass doctors from collecting for care given to American Transit insureds and their passengers,” Thwaites reportedly said.
Geragos came on last week to represent Emmanuel and his family, including wife, Sunny and their children Gabriel and Paloma.
Geragos claims in his letter that, “a damning 83-page report filed by New York State’s Department of Financial Services… laid out dozens of potential financial improprieties and accounting problems at American Transit.”
He also points to a lawsuit filed by Uber Technologies in 2024, alleging, “American Transit has a ‘pattern and practice of failing to adhere to reasonable claims-handling practices and failing to reasonably resolve claims and lawsuits on its insureds’ behalf.”
“It is clear that American Transit’s longstanding insolvency is at the root of the frivolous lawsuit against Dr. Hostin and the accompanying media smear campaign,” he wrote.
Gerago’s letter served as a “formal notice that Dr. Hostin, Mrs. Hostin and their children intend to seek redress for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the amount of $5 million dollars for the damages they have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the aforementioned defamatory allegations and corresponding smear campaign,” he wrote.
American Transit told Page Six: “American Transit commenced its lawsuit as part of its statutory responsibility to fight no-fault fraud which is rampant in New York. The allegations of the Complaint speak for themselves. With respect to any allegations by any defendant as to improper conduct by American Transit or its counsel, such assertions are emphatically denied as without basis.”
https://pagesix.com/2025/01/12/entertainment/sunny-hostin-and-husband-fight-insurance-fraud-claims/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.