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David A. Rasmussen, 55, Raymond Giovanne, 33, and Suzanne Rasmussen, 52 -- David's wife -- participated in a scheme to defraud NJ State Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which provides health insurance coverage to state employees, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office announced July 29.
David Rasmussen is the delegate recommended by the union to serve as a member of the NJ Transit board, Suzanne is his wife and Giovanne is Suzanne's nephew. All are from Woodbridge.
Both NJ Transit employees have been suspended without pay until further notice, an NJ Transit spokesperson said.
Suzanne Rasmussen apparently recruited ten NJ Transit employees to submit their insurance information to doctors and pharmacies resulting in $889,857 being paid by the health care insurance carrier.
The scheme ran from January 2016 to February 2017, and was apparently carried out by using legitimate employees and their personal information to get doctors to write unnecessary prescriptions for compounded medications such as pain creams and scar creams after a telemedicine visit.
Assistant Prosecutor Cynthia Teller, who is handling the case, said it's part of a larger criminal enterprise involving other defendants who were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The investigation started when NJ Transit was contacted by BCBS and the FBI about Transit employees being targeted for a pyramid style prescription fraud.
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