The View co-host Sunny Hostin released a statement regarding the insurance fraud allegations against her husband Tuesday, arguing that the company that filed the lawsuit was known for making frivolous claims.
Hostin issued a statement told Entertainment Weekly and said that the company, American Transit Insurance Co., a New York-based commercial auto insurer that insures Uber, Lyft and taxi companies in the state, filed the lawsuit “to prevent people from having to pay for medical and surgical procedures. policyholders who were in pain.”
“This company has a history of making frivolous claims, has been investigated by New York State and has been sued by Uber Technologies,” she added.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Emmanuel “Manny” Hostin and his practice, Hostin Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, were named among more than 180 defendants in a major federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, case filed Dec. 17 in the Eastern District of New York.
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Dr. Emmanuel “Manny” Hostin and Sunny Hostin attend the 2024 Bezos Courage and Civility Awards on March 14, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Bezos Courage and Civility Awards)
The View co-host also said, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, that American Transit is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Emmanuel Hostin in particular is accused of receiving kickbacks by “conducting operations and fraudulently billing” American Transit, according to the lawsuit.
At least two of Hostin’s patients are mentioned who were reportedly addressed in January 2023 after being involved in “low-impact” collisions that caused only minimal damage. Despite suffering “no more than soft tissue injuries,” both underwent arthroscopic surgery, the lawsuit said.
Sunny Hostin’s statement added that the company “used my celebrity status to start a disgusting media smear campaign against my husband.”
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Sunny Hostin and husband Emmanuel Hostin will be appearing at the 2022 Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Opening Night Gala in New York City. (He Dipasupil/Getty)
“We have served notice on American Transit and will be filing a $5 million countersuit for their defamatory claims, an amount that is likely to increase as the reputational damage American Transit has intentionally caused is difficult to quantify at this time.” Hostin went further, demanding that US Transit “retract these false allegations, pay my husband what he is owed and issue a public apology.”
The situation was discussed privately on “The View,” sources told Fox News Digital. Hostin has not yet discussed the lawsuit.
“It’s been discussed internally,” a source said of the situation on the ABC talk show, adding, “But no one is sure what to think.”
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The lawsuit being filed under RICO is a strategy that legal experts told Fox News Digital is designed 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.
Breanne Deppisch, Joseph Wulfsohn, David Rutz and Brian Flood of Fox News contributed to this report.
