Hatzalah CEO quits amid insurance scam allegations

Criminal complaint states ambulance service chief conspired with the head of Met Council in $5 million con

By JTA 1 October 2013, 5:12 am Edit
A Hatzalah ambulance in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York (photo credit: Tariqabjotu/Wikimedia Commons)
A Hatzalah ambulance in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York (photo credit: Tariqabjotu/Wikimedia Commons)

NEW YORK — The CEO of the Chevra Hatzalah ambulance service resigned amid allegations that he conspired with William Rapfogel, the ex-CEO of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, in an insurance scam on the Met Council.

Rabbi Dovid Cohen gave no reason for stepping down over the weekend at Hatzalah, according to David Shipper, the Jewish ambulance corps’ attorney.

“Any allegations or issues having to do with the Met Council have nothing to do with Hatzalah,” Shipper told the Forward.

The New York Times reported Sept. 26 that Cohen, who preceded Rapfogel as CEO of the Met Council, was one of two co-conspirators named in a criminal complaint two days earlier against Rapfogel, the Forward reported.

Rapfogel is accused of running a $5 million health insurance scam on the social service agency he led for two decades.

Cohen was fired as a consultant for the Met Council on the same day Rapfogel was terminated as the group’s CEO.

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