Doctor gets jail time for taking bribes from Newark company

A New York doctor is headed to prison for his role in a long-running bribes-for-test referrals scheme involving a New Jersey lab company.

Vials of human blood are processed as they lie on an automated testing line at the Maccabi Health Services HMO central laboratory January 22, 2006 in Nes Tsiona which is located in central Israel. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey say Bret Ostrager received a 37-month sentence Wednesday. He also must forfeit $101,271.

The 51-year-old Woodbury, New York resident had medical practices in Nassau County. He pleaded guilty last December to three counts in an indictment charging him with conspiracy and other counts.

Ostrager admitted getting monthly cash bribes of roughly $3,300 from lab employees and associates of Parsippany-based Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services between February 2011 and April 2013. He also periodically solicited and received several meals and tickets to entertainment and sporting events that cost thousands of dollars.

In exchange, Ostrager referred patient blood samples to the lab, which generated about $909,000 in business for the firm.