'The View' star Sunny Hostin's surgeon husband accused of insurance fraud in sweeping federal lawsuit
The husband of "The View" co-host Sunny Hostin has been accused of insurance fraud in a sweeping federal lawsuit filed last month.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Emmanuel "Manny" Hostin and his practice, Hostin Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, were named among more than 180 defendants in a major RICO case filed in New York on Dec. 17.
According to The Daily Mail, Hostin and the other defendants were allegedly receiving "kickbacks" for performing surgeries and fraudulently billing the insurance company that provides for Uber, Lyft and other taxi companies.
"Hostin knowingly provided fraudulent medical and other healthcare services including arthroscopic surgeries," the lawsuit claims, per The Daily Mail, adding that the American Transit Insurance Company, which filed the lawsuit, was billed "in exchange for kickbacks and/or other compensation which were disguised as dividends or other cash distributions."
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In a press release announcing the $450 million lawsuit, American Transit said, "The federal court complaint, filed in the Eastern District of New York, alleges that the defendants sought to take advantage of New York's no-fault auto insurance laws, which require insurance companies to reimburse their policyholders for the cost of necessary and documented medical care up to $50,000 for personal or private passenger vehicles ($200,000 for taxis and for-hire vehicles in New York City) for injuries arising out of an accident regardless of fault. These substantial possible no-fault recoveries can incentivize providers with ill intent to over-diagnose, over-treat, and over-bill to recover the most money for themselves."
According to The Daily Mail, the lawsuit alleges Hostin was given an "investment" interest in the Empire State Ambulatory Surgery Center while receiving a "steady stream" of patient referrals in return.
Two of Hostin's patients cited in the lawsuit were allegedly treated in January 2023 following involvement in "low-impact" collisions that were said to have only caused minimal damage, "no more than soft-tissue injuries," but both received arthroscopic surgery.
Hostin's attorney told The Daily Mail his client denies all the allegations and called the filing a "blanket, scattershot, meritless lawsuit by a near-bankrupt insurance carrier."
"It is meant to intimidate and harass doctors from collecting for care given to American Transit insureds and their passengers," attorney Daniel Thwaites told The Daily Mail. "The real story here is about an insurance carrier abusing the legal system to limit and restrict health care benefits to its insureds and their passengers, and write off its proper obligations."
Sunny Hostin spoke about her husband's work on "The View" as recently as last month while discussing the health insurance industry in the aftermath of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
"Doctors suffer because of big corporations as well, doctors that want to do good like my husband," Hostin told her colleagues. "[He] operates on someone even though they don't have insurance and then has to sue health insurance companies to get paid for the work that he's been trained his whole life to do."
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ABC News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Hostin and her husband have been married since 1998 and have two children.