Authorities announced on Jan. 28 that several people in California were indicted for defrauding the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system. The 13 indictments were handed to medical providers, doctors and attorneys who had allegedly taken $500,000 in illegal kickbacks for workers’ compensation claims. The alleged scam is reported to be one of the largest cases of fraud in the history of the California Department of Insurance.
According to investigators, an elaborate scam was set up in which individuals were recruited to file claims for workplace injuries. The recruiters would then make sure that the patients only visited medical providers that were involved in the kickback scam. Millions of dollars of fraudulent claims for chiropractic treatments, sleep studies, pain management and echo cardiograms were filed as a result of the scam.
The investigation into the alleged workers’ compensation scam was a joint effort by the San Diego Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Department of Insurance and the FBI. In November, a first round of indictments against eight people, including doctors, was announced. The latest charges were the second round of indictments in the investigation. There were 13 state indictments as well as three federal indictments.
When there is a large-scale fraud investigation, many people and businesses may be indicted at once. Some of the people who are indicted in an investigation like this may have been falsely charged for committing fraud or assisting others to commit fraud. A criminal defense attorney may be able to help someone in this situation to prove that they were unaware of the role that they were playing in the alleged scam.
Source: Insurance Journal, “13 Indictments Handed Down in Massive Workers’ Comp Fraud Scam,” Jan. 28, 2016
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