More than $900,000 was seized by federal agents last week from the bank accounts of Great Neck Dr. Eric Jacobson, who remains in jail on charges that he illegally trafficked prescription medication from his Northern Boulevard office.
Federal agents alleged in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Treinis that the money, which was seized last Wednesday, was made through sales of oxycodone from Jacobson’s office.
“The order that the judge signed authorized a seizure that was about $1.3 or $1.4 million, but that much money was not in the account,” said Great Neck attorney John Martin, who has represented Jacobson since his arrest last month.
A Huntington resident, Jacobson was charged in June with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone to individuals he knew were diverting, or reselling, the painkillers to addicts.
Jacobson is one of 98 suspects now facing charges following a joint initiative between the Drug Enforcement Administration and local law enforcement officials, which was intended to crack down on the abuse and illegal distribution of prescription medications.
Martin filed U.S. District court papers of his own contesting the seizure of Jacobson’s money and requesting that the doctor be released on bail.
“The two things that have happened are that he’s denied bail and the government has seized money that they can’t tie to any criminal activity,” Martin said. “I intend to fight both of those.”
Jacobson’s office was raided by DEA and Internal Revenue Service agents in December after an investigation revealed the doctor had allegedly prescribed thousands of painkillers to David Laffer and his wife Melinda Brady.
Last June, Laffer and Brady murdered four people while robbing a Medford pharmacy.
Although Jacobson was not arrested following the raid, he did give up his ability to write prescriptions for painkillers, documents filed in federal court by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said.
But Jacobson still continued to collect between $12,000 and $20,000 in cash in his office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, court documents said.
According to a Newsday story last week, an unnamed source working in Jacobson’s office said that each time the money was received about $1,000 was sealed in an envelope and given to the doctor.
The envelopes would then be placed in a tan briefcase at the end of the day, which would be taken away by Jacobson, the Newsday story said.
U.S. Magistrate A. Kathleen Tomlinson signed the order to have that money seized from Jacobson’s account.
If Jacobson is found guilty in his upcoming trial, the money will be forfeited to the federal government.
Although Martin said the seizure of the money was unwarranted, the action by federal agents did not come as a surprise. He said any money federal agents believe was made by a defendant for “alleged economic gain” has generally been frozen before the start of similar trials.
“I knew it was a pretty good possibility,” Martin said of the seizure of his clients’ funds.
Following his arrest last month, Jacobson was held without bail last month after his arraignment in federal court in Central Islip.
Jacobson was due back in court on bail proceedings on Thursday.
As of press time on Wednesday Jacobson was still in jail, but Martin said he was “cautiously optimistic” that his client would be released on bail following Thursday’s court proceedings.
“Whatever you may think about the crimes alleged, this person is not a danger to the community,” Martin said of Jacobson. “He’s not going to hurt anybody.”
