Meadows Casino seeks $69,000 gambling debt from jailed Greensburg doctor

Apr. 30—The Meadows Casino and Racetrack wants a former Greensburg doctor to repay more than $69,000 — a gambling debt that grew from a $48,000 line of credit seven years ago.

The problem for the North Strabane casino, which filed for a $69,344 judgment in Westmoreland County court on Wednesday, is that Dr. Nabil Jabbour, 70, of Greensburg is serving a year in federal prison in Hazleton.

Jabbour pleaded guilty in October 2019 to charges of health care fraud, money laundering and distributing buprenorphine. Jabbour once operated an addiction treatment practice.

Meadows Casino stated in its court filing that Jabbour had secured the $48,000 line of credit in March 2014, but had provided the casino with a closed bank account on which the $1,000 monthly payments were to be drawn. The casino added interest at a rate of 18% starting in November 2019 and continuing through this month, which helped to increase the total debt by $21,000.

Although the Meadows notified Jabbour in September 2016 that he was behind in his payments, the casino said he still could gamble, but any winnings would be diverted to pay on his debt, according to the Meadows' court filing.

A spokesman for the Meadows Casino could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Jabbour was sentenced in December to one year plus one day in prison.

Federal prosecutors said Jabbour was prescribing pain medications in return for cash, defrauding the Medicare and Medicaid programs and laundering about $60,000 at the Meadows. Jabbour also was ordered to forfeit $17,000 in cash and gambling chips from the Meadows that had been seized in the investigation. He was fined $75,000 and ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution to Medicare and the state's Medicaid program.

The case stretched back to September 2018, when he was indicted by a federal grand jury on the money laundering and drug charges. He had offices on Harvey Avenue in Greensburg and in Connellsville.

Before Jabbour went to prison on April 1, his attorney, Brian Aston of Greensburg, sought to delay his client's incarceration and vacate his sentence. Aston filed a post-conviction appeal claiming Jabbour's trial attorney was ineffective. Aston said the attorney steered Jabbour to plead guilty rather than going to trial, during which he could have presented an expert witness.

U.S. Judge Arthur Schwab on March 25 denied the request to delay Jabbour's imprisonment, but directed prosecutors to file a response by May 28.

Aston could not be reached for comment.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .