SVETLANA IS DEAD, COPS FEAR

Doc biz may be missing link

New York Daily News; New York, N.Y.; Mar 14, 2003; ALICE McQUILLAN AND MICHELE McPHEE DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU With Ralph R. Ortega;

Cops believe a missing East Side woman is dead - and are exploring the possibility she may have been killed because of business dealings by her husband, a doctor, the Daily News has learned.

"She's gone for a week and nothing has surfaced at all, no ransom, nothing," said an investigator close to the Svetlana Aronov disappearance case.

"She was very close with her father and kids. She definitely didn't run away with anybody. The consensus is yeah, she's dead."

Aronov, 44 - the wife of Dr. Alexander Aronov - vanished blocks from her home at York Ave. and E. 64th St. 11 days ago while walking her father's cocker spaniel, Bim. She was carrying a house key and a cell phone when she disappeared at 68th St. and York Ave.

Police, who have come up cold so far, are pursuing several theories to try to get a lead. Those theories, which are fueled only by speculation at this point, have cops wondering whether Svetlana Aronov's disappearance is linked to her husband's medical practice.

Yesterday, detectives were poring through insurance documents in an effort to determine whether her husband was tangled in any medical fraud, several law enforcement sources told The News.

Detectives have uncovered several letters from various insurance companies balking at claims the doctor - an internist/oncologist - submitted, sources said.

Among claims insurance companies were questioning was a foot operation on a patient billed earlier as a double amputee, and another for a procedure on someone who had been issued a death certificate, sources said.

The sources said Svetlana Aronov was responsible for the accounting at her husband's medical practices in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and Murray Hill, Manhattan.

Investigators were considering a theory that, if there was any scam, it could be a motive, the sources said.

"Someone might have whacked her to send a message to the husband," the source speculated. "We are looking into it."

The doctor - who initially cooperated with police searching for his missing wife - now refuses to take a lie-detector test and is referring questions from cops to his attorney, Douglas Nadjari.

Nadjari denied his client was involved in fraud.

"He's an honest physician and an honest businessman," Nadjari said yesterday. "The doctor wants them to leave no stone unturned. He's considering a lie-detector test, and that's all I'm prepared to say."

Police officials said the doctor, who is not being called a suspect in his wife's disappearance, initially agreed to the lie- detector test. But when detectives showed up at his Manhattan office, he refused and called his lawyer.

"Mr. Aronov has obtained an attorney and has requested that any questions go through his legal counsel," said NYPD spokesman Capt. James Klein. "The investigation is ongoing."

Investigators said both Aronovs had had extramarital affairs. Svetlana Aronov was involved with a Manhattan lawyer since 1996, but he has been cleared as a suspect, sources said. Alexander Aronov said yesterday he still didn't believe reports his wife cheated on him.

"Neither one of these people were as pure as driven snow. Both had affairs," a high-ranking police official said. "But we do not believe that is a motive for whatever happened to her."

[Illustration]
Caption: Svetlana Aronov and her husband, Dr. Alexander Aronov.