ALBANY — The owners of a string of embattled nursing homes across New York will pay the state $12 million to settle claims of financial fraud and neglect of elderly residents at a Syracuse facility, the state attorney general’s office said Monday.
The Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, owned by Efraim Steif and Uri Koenig, had diverted “tens of millions” of dollars to themselves through a variety of schemes related to inflated rental payments and mortgages on the nursing home property, state Attorney General Letitia James said. As a result, the facility was often severely understaffed and residents experienced hospitalizations and, in some cases, death.
Purchased by Steif and Koenig in 2013, the facility paid the pair “rent” with Medicare and Medicaid funds until 2022. Steif and Koenig also paid themselves salaries of over $2 million for work that was never performed, the agency said…