A doctor who was arrested in June 2020 and charged with trading fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for cash allegedly attempted to hire a Hells Angels gang member to silence a witness.
Dr. Anatoly Braylovsky was initially charged with selling oxycodone prescriptions to patients who did not medically necessitate it. The case shifted when it came to the attention of the FBI that Braylovsky wanted to hire an accomplice to intimidate and potentially kill a witness who would send him back to jail. When the information was deemed credible, the FBI set up a sting operation to catch Braylovsky in a murder-for-hire plot, according to an FBI affidavit.
Braylovsky allegedly told an acquaintance earlier this month that he did not wish to return to jail, saying he spent five days in a New Haven cell and claiming they were the worst five days of his life. When testimony from one of the witnesses threatened to put Braylovsky back in police custody, he reached out to an acquaintance he believed had connections with the famous motorcycle gang Hells Angels, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors Friday.
The acquaintance, instead of reaching out to the gang, contacted the police and told them what had happened.
The FBI had an undercover agent call Braylovsky at his home, then set up a time and place to meet in person to go over the plan. Braylovsky was initially suspicious of a setup, the affidavit claims, but the agent successfully dodged all questions. The affidavit explains that even though Braylovsky was hesitant in trusting the agent, it did not change his underlying plan.
“I am a professional, alright?” the officer told Braylovsky, according to the affidavit. “And if l need to find somebody, I find them, OK?”
A plan was set to silence the witness either through intimidation, violence, or death. The doctor was arrested three days later.
“It did not seem as if Braylovsky had changed his mind regarding his plans,” the affidavit said. “Rather, it appeared as though Braylovsky was skeptical of the [undercover officer].”
After an initial hearing, Braylovsky has been sent to a federal detention center where he waits for trial to begin for the opioid scheme. According to a press release by the Connecticut attorney general’s office, Braylovsky was charging $1,600 in exchange for unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions.
Tags: Murder-for-Hire Pill Mills Provider Arrest Witness Tampering
