Jane MusgraveMark Agresti, sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in sober home fraud, wins a new trial.
Nearly three years after Dr. Mark Agresti was handed an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted of 12 counts of health care fraud, the Palm Beach psychiatrist is poised to get a second chance to prove he did nothing wrong.
In a two-page order last month, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II said he was prepared to wipe Agresti’s criminal slate clean and order a new trial.
The decision came roughly two years after Agresti insisted he was framed by notorious sober home operator Kenneth Bailynson. The hot-headed accountant lied to jurors about Agresti’s role in the $31 million insurance scam to win a light sentence, Agresti’s attorneys claimed in court papers.
Ruiz didn’t explain why he took the unusual step of granting Agresti a new trial. But he has repeatedly said he didn’t trust Bailynson, the star witness against Agresti.
“Mr. Bailynson has almost zero credibility as a human being,” Ruiz said during a hearing in June to consider Agresti’s claims. “The reality is, he (Bailynson) was torched at trial, as a liar, multiple times. He hasn’t gotten any better; he’s gotten worse.”
How did the case unravel?
After Agresti was sent to prison in May 2022, federal prosecutors learned that Bailynson was telling friends and fellow inmates that he lied about Agresti’s role as medical director of Good Decisions Sober Living in West Palm Beach.
“I had good lawyers and had to lie on the stand to go against the doctor,” Bailynson texted a high school friend, one of scores of messages prosecutors uncovered.
Later, Bailynson bragged about how he would serve far less time in prison than Agresti even though he pocketed the lion’s share of the cash.
“So dr makes 100K. Getting 20 years,” Bailynson wrote before Agresti was handed an eight-year sentence. “I make 15 mill. 36 months +”
Agresti was released from prison in August 2022 while prosecutors investigated.
Did Bailynson admit he lied? No.
While testifying in June, he claimed he “lied about lying” because snitches are reviled in prison. Also, he said, he didn’t want his few remaining friends to know he had bilked insurance companies.
“I preferred they believed that I was a liar and a perjurer … it’s just beyond horrible to be known as a fraudster,” he testified.
The conviction made Agresti a former doctor. His medical license was revoked Jan. 3.
What’s next? Agresti appealed his conviction to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ruiz said he would officially order a new trial if the appellate court relinquishes the case.
