There are bleak forecasts for The View co-host Sunny Hostin as her husband has been accused in a lawsuit of committing insurance fraud, which sources say has become a “big thing” at ABC News.
“It has been discussed internally,” says a source Fox News digital of the situation during the ABC talk show. “But no one is sure what to think.”
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Emmanuel “Manny” Hostin and his practice, Hostin Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, were named among more than 180 defendants in a major RICO case filed in New York last month.
According to The Daily MailHostin and the other defendants allegedly received kickbacks for operating and fraudulently billing the insurance company that provides Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as taxi companies. The lawsuit alleges that Hostin received an “investment interest” in the Empire State Ambulatory Surgery Center, while in return he received a “steady stream” of patient referrals.
Hostin’s attorney told The Daily Mail that his client denies all allegations and called the filing a “generic, scattershot, meritless lawsuit by a nearly bankrupt insurance company.”
‘THE VIEW’ STARS SUNNY HOSTIN’S SURGEON HUSBAND ACCUSED OF INSURANCE FRAUD IN MAJOR FEDERAL COURT
Dr. Emmanuel Hostin, husband of The View co-host Sunny Hostin, was accused of insurance fraud in a sweeping federal lawsuit filed last month in New York. (He Dipasupil/Getty)
A former ABC insider said Hostin was always the first to jump down a Republican’s throat when they did something wrong on “The View,” and “now she doesn’t even talk about it on the show.”
“It’s pretty hypocritical,” they said, saying the controversy had “become a big thing on the network.” “It’s death by a thousand cuts. This is just another thing to make people not trust (The View) and not take them seriously.”
As co-host of “The View” and ABC’s senior legal correspondent, Hostin quotes often her background as an attorney to weigh in on major legal stories that have made headlines, most notably the litany of criminal charges against newly elected President Donald Trump. Hostin is known for giving sarcastic readings of Trump’s denials of the charges against him when discussed on the program.
“Sunny Hostin will only look more foolish pontificating about ethics and morality and the rule of law,” said Fox News contributor Joe Concha.
Sunny Hostin, second from right, is one of the reliably liberal hosts of “The View.” (Screenshot/ABC News)
Many media experts, such as Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson, don’t think the legal drama that will rock the Hostin household will have much effect on ABC News, nor on the anchor’s reputation on ‘The View’.
“It would be far-fetched to claim that anything he did or did not do pertains to Ms. Hostin, let alone her ability to express her opinions on ‘The View,’” Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
Jeffrey McCall, a professor of journalism at DePauw University, similarly predicted that the scandal is unlikely to make a difference as ABC News will “stay away” from covering the lawsuit in a perpetually busy news cycle bracing for Trump’s return to the White House.
“It has a certain sensationalism in the sense that Sunny is an outspoken personality on a rather raucous commentary program, but the interest factor is probably quite low for most American news consumers,” McCall said.
ABC News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. A representative for Hostin also did not comment.
SUNNY HOSTIN COMPARES THE JANUARY 6 ROLLER TO THE HOLOCAUST AND SAYS WE CAN ‘NEVER FORGET’
Media experts say Dr.’s legal scandal Emmanuel Hostin won’t affect Sunny Hostin’s position at ABC News, but they say it could put her in an awkward position to pontificate about morality and law in the future. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Bezos Courage and Civility Awards)
ABC, owned by Disney, is still suffering $16 million settlement with Trump after suing the network and “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos for defamation.
Hostin has remained mum on her husband’s legal troubles since the December lawsuit, but that hasn’t stopped her from commenting on her husband’s work, as she did last month when discussing the health insurance industry in the wake of the crisis. murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“Doctors also suffer from big companies, doctors who want to do good just like my husband,” says Hostin told her colleagues. “(He) operates on someone even though they have no insurance, and then has to sue the health insurance companies to get paid for the job he has been trained to do all his life.”
‘THE VIEW’ HOST SUNNY HOSTIN’S SURGEON HUSBAND FIGHTS FOR YEARS IN FRAUD CASE
Additionally, comments Hostin made in March 2023 about the seriousness of insurance fraud went viral this week when she discussed possible charges against former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who had served a prison sentence for tax fraud.
“Prosecutors say, ‘Oh really? Well, how about we charge you some additional fraud charges?’ And they’re talking about threatening him with insurance fraud, which I think could get you 20 years in prison. So that’s a death sentence for him,” Hostin said said at the time.
Legal experts tell Fox News Digital that the $459 million lawsuit involving Dr. Hostin and his co-defendants could keep them in court for years.
The lawsuit was filed under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, in the Eastern District of New York — a strategy that legal experts say is intended to have a chilling effect on behavior. It’s also one that risks entangling defendants like Hostin in years of complex legal proceedings – potentially saddling them with huge payouts as a result.
American Transit alleges that Hostin and other defendants abused New York’s no-fault laws to charge “hundreds of millions” of dollars in fraudulent payments between 2009 and December 2024.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
