Medical sales executive on Lakeside Bank board charged with fraud for allegedly selling mislabeled surgical products

A Mokena-based medical supplies executive who sits on the Lakeside Bank board is facing federal fraud charges for allegedly mislabeling and selling devices used in surgical procedures.

Anthony Iaderosa and his company, Synergy Surgical, are charged with removal of labeling on sutures, gauges and other products while the medical devices were held for sale, according to an indictment filed Monday in Chicago federal court.

Misbranding medical devices after shipment in interstate commerce is a felony under Food and Drug Administration regulations.

Iaderosa did not respond to several requests for comment.

A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate, Iaderosa founded the southwest suburban company, formerly known as eSutures, in 2000, carving out a medical supply chain niche as a wholesale liquidator of “brand name surgical supplies at discounted prices,” according to the firm’s website.

Synergy Surgical also buys surplus products for resale from hospitals and doctors, including open-boxed or loose individual items.

The current product inventory includes in-date and expired surgical equipment ranging from hypodermic needles and sutures to catheters, all listed by brand. There is no manufacturer’s warranty on any of the products Synergy Surgical sells, but the company offers a “100% money back guarantee” on every item within 30 days of purchase, according to its website.

The indictment charges Iaderosa and Advanced Inventory Management, the corporate entity which now does business as Synergy Surgical, for allegedly removing labels from medical products between December 2017 and May 2019 with the “intent to defraud or mislead” its customers.

In January 2015, Iaderosa was named to the board at Chicago-based Lakeside Bank. The independent community bank, which started with a single location in the South Loop in 1966, now has more than $2.6 billion in assets and 10 locations in the city and suburbs.

Lakeside Bank has 11 board members, including Iaderosa. On its website, the bank lauds Iaderosa’s “entrepreneurial spirit” and said his company has helped firms worldwide save millions of dollars a year on surgical devices and products.

A bank spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday on Iaderosa’s indictment or his standing as a board member at Lakeside Bank.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com