Federal judge rips star witness: ‘He forgot to shut up’

Kenneth Bailynson failed to heed good advice from sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz writes.

A federal judge last week made good on his promise to order a new trial for Mark Agresti because the prosecution’s star witness lied to the jury about the former Palm Beach psychiatrist’s role in a $31 million health care scam.

U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz II got to the point in the first sentence of his 27-page order.

What he ruled: “The famed science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein once wrote that the ‘slickest way in the world to lie is to tell the right amount of truth at the right time — and then shut up.’ The star witness in this case, Kenneth Bailynson, might have been wise to follow Heinlein’s advice — instead, he forgot to shut up.”

Instead, the 52-year-old accountant told more than a half-dozen fellow inmates, friends, crime partners and others that he lied about how much money he paid Agresti for what prosecutors claimed were hundreds of unnecessary tests for residents of a sober home Bailynson ran out of a dilapidated condominium in West Palm Beach.

The judge didn’t mince words.“As is now clear — largely because Bailynson decided to brag about it to anyone who would listen — Bailynson committed perjury,” Ruiz wrote.

What’s next? Ruiz will meet with prosecutors and Agresti’s attorneys on Feb. 12. Federal prosecutors, who don’t discuss pending cases, will likely indicate whether they plan to try Agresti a second time on 13 charges of health care fraud.

What about Bailynson? In exchange for his testimony against Agresti, he pleaded guilty in 2022 to one of the 14 charges he faced. He was handed what Ruiz described as a “lenient” six-year sentence with credit for the two years he had spent in lockup and has been free since July.

• While he could be charged with perjury, one of Agresti’s attorneys said it is unlikely.

As for Agresti: He was released from prison in August 2022, weeks after he began serving an eight-year sentence while FBI agents investigated reports that Bailynson told multiple people he lied. In January, state regulators revoked Agresti’s medical license because of his conviction.