Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Individuals contemplating committing Southern California medical insurance fraud should be on notice: the government is cracking down. Last June, the Feds initiated a multi-state bust-up of healthcare fraud operations that allegedly bilked the system out of $50 million, collectively. Two of the biggest alleged offenders – Bernice Brown and Daniel Smorynski – got convicted last week in US District Court of a fraud scheme that bilked Medicare out of more than $6.5 million.

Below are the details about the case:

Between October 2002 and January 2007, Brown (who owned a Michigan-based business called Wayne County Therapeutic) and her Vice President, Smorynski, drafted bogus files to bill Medicare for occupational and physical therapies they never actually performed. All told, they submitted $23.2 million worth of claims to Medicare. The courts came down harshly on both of them. Brown got convicted of 10 counts of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud – each of these 11 charges has a maximum penalty of $250,000 in fines and 10 years in jail.

Smorynski, for his part, was found guilty of six counts of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy. Clearly, the government is taking these medical fraud cases very seriously.

If you have been charged with Los Angeles healthcare fraud, mostly likely, you will be charged pursuant to a special code, called Insurance Code Section 1871.4. On top of that, you may face charges under Penal Code Section 550. If you’ve made a false statement to prosecutors, you could face charges under Penal Code Section 118. In certain cases, if you are an employer, you may also be found in violation of yet another section, Labor Code Section 3700.

The following activities could be construed as Southern California healthcare fraud: falsifying medical documents, double billing, giving unnecessary procedures or tests to patients, and billing carriers or Medicare for services not provided (like Brown and Smorynski did).

As even this brief (and oversimplified!) introduction to Los Angeles healthcare fraud suggests, these legal charges can get incredibly complicated. If you or a loved one stands accused of a similar charge, you could face catastrophic financial fallout as well as a long prison sentence, if you don’t put up a stiff defense. To that end, you likely want an attorney who has lots of experience and proven success with Southern California white collar crimes.

Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group in Los Angeles is a proven, highly respected, and well trained advocate for Southern California white collar criminal defendants. Attorney Kraut spent years serving the city as a prosecutor before switching to become a defense attorney. He knows how prosecutors typically operate, and he can use his knowledge and intuition of the process to deliver an exemplary defense.

On June 7, a Riverside, California man named Rene Montes entered a guilty plea for dozens of counts of Southern California insurance fraud. The California Department of Insurance reported that Montes pled guilty to felony conspiracy, three counts of felony tax evasion, 59 counts of felony insurance fraud and 59 grand theft felony counts. Sentencing has been set for the end of July. Montes allegedly bilked insurance companies out of $1.5 million by perpetrating a scam to collect funds from AIG Claim Services with respect to outstanding workers’ compensation medical liens.

According to reports, Montes perpetrated the scam from around August 2003 through January 2006. Three other people have also been charged in connection with this Southern California insurance fraud: 47-year-old Cara Cruz-Thomson, 46-year-old Hector Porrata, and 43-year-old George Martinez. The three co-defendants were sentenced in the beginning of May for their connection with the scam. Porrata pled guilty to 50 counts each of grand theft felony and felony insurance fraud as well one felony count of conspiracy. The court ordered him to pay out $1.2 million and serve an 8-year prison sentence. Cruz-Thomson pled guilty to 11 counts each of grand theft and insurance fraud as well as a conspiracy count. She received a two-year prison sentence and an order to pay more than $220,000 in restitution. Martinez also pled guilty to 11 counts of grand theft and insurance fraud as well as a count of conspiracy. He also got a two-year prison sentence and an order to pay around $300,000 in restitution.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office and California Department of Insurance worked together for months to unpack all the subtleties of this Southern California white collar crime.

If you or a loved one faces similar charges, you’ll likely need an attorney who has experience and facility with complex civil and criminal matters to develop a winning strategy.

Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group in Los Angeles has ample experience with Southern California white collar crimes. In his former career as a senior Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles, he boasted a 98% success rate at jury trials. He is Harvard Law School educated, and he leverages his connections from his stint as a prosecutor to advocate for the best interest of his clients.

The charges you face are real. Get real about your defense by connecting today with Attorney Kraut to build your best defense.

On Friday June 4th, a grand jury indicted Dr. Dipak Desai on 28 criminal counts – from racketeering to insurance fraud – prompting those who follow stories of Southern California medical insurance fraud to vigorous debate the potential fallout.

Dr. Desai – who was charged along with two of his former employees, Ronald Lakeman and Keith Mathahs – allegedly accidently infected over 100 patients with Hepatitis C at his Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada from March 2004 through January 2008. Patients at his center allegedly got infected because nurses reused syringes. An astounding 50,000 patients in total might have been exposed to HIV and Hepatitis B in addition to Hepatitis C.

Felony counts against Desai include criminal neglect of patients, medical insurance fraud, obtaining money under false pretences, and racketeering. Desai is in the midst of a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and representatives for plaintiffs have whalloped the embattled physician (former physician actually, since his license was stripped earlier this year) with a slate of malpractice suits. Attorneys said that the insurance coverage “will be grossly and totally inadequate to satisfy the damage claims of plaintiffs.”

Two companies linked with Desai’s clinic – Baxter Healthcare Corp and TEVA Parenteral Medicines – may have to play a collective judgment worth $500 million in damages – the most ever awarded in Nevada.

If you or a loved one faces charges of Southern California medical insurance fraud or any other kind of white collar crime, chances are that others will leap to judgment without knowing all the facts. You could quickly find yourself without allies, recourse, or knowledge about what to do. It can be very scary to face these kinds of serious charges.

Southern California healthcare fraud is subject to punishment under Insurance Code Section 1871.4 as well as Penal Code Section 550. You might also face charges under Labor Code Section 3700 and Penal Code Section 118. Southern California healthcare fraud charges can be diverse and can include accusations of doing unnecessary medical procedures, falsifying or changing medical records, billing insurers for services not provided, prescribing medications that aren’t needed, and urging patients to undergo tests that are not unnecessary.

The sophisticated nature of Southern California white collar criminal charges almost necessitates that you retain a top caliber criminal defense attorney to protect you and your rights. But whom can you trust?

Consider talking to Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group. As a former Los Angeles prosecutor and a Harvard Law School trained trial lawyer with a 98% success rate jury trials, Attorney Kraut can answer your questions and work with you to develop a thorough and strategically sound defense against Los Angeles healthcare insurance fraud charges.

Most cases of Southern California credit card fraud fail to make the headlines, either because they involve relatively insignificant sums of money or because they involve people and corporations that everyday people don’t know or care much about.

However, a breaking story out of Indianapolis has heads swiveling across the nation. A Pro Ball receiver for Indianapolis Colts – Reggie Wayne – is locked in a heated battle with an ex-girlfriend over allegations that she fraudulently misappropriated his credit cards to the tune of nearly $100,000.

The Indianapolis Star quoted a local police sergeant, Paul Thompson, about the matter: “We found that over approximately one year of time that $60,000 of cash and $35,000 of merchandize had been misappropriated by the use of a debit card or credit card number.” Wayne’s ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Natasha McKenzie, downplayed the charges to a local radio station, saying in effect that Wayne had authorized her to use the card. But Sergeant Thompson insisted that McKenzie had admitted to the police that she used the card without authorization.

After being alerted by Wayne in April, the Indianapolis police conducted an investigation and eventually got a warrant to search McKenzie’s apartment. Last week, the police went over to her residence. She was not home, so they forced entry (which was allowed by the warrant) and confiscated property that was ID’d as having been purchased with Wayne’s credit card. This property included a living room set, some TVs, and other equipment – as well as property that she allegedly purchased with cash taken from the card.

Reggie’s representatives have so far declined to comment about the ongoing investigation, although Southern California credit card fraud experts believe that the drama between Wayne and his ex may escalate and become more public as more details trickle out.

If you or a loved one has been arrested and charged with credit card fraud in Southern California, prosecutors may charge you under various sections of the California Penal Code. For instance, mail theft is charged under Penal Code Section 530.5(e); whereas receiving stolen property is charged under Penal Code Section 496(a). If you make a false financial statements, prosecutors can charge you under Penal Code Section 532a(1); whereas if you unlawfully access credit card activity, you will subject to punishment under Penal Code Section 484i(c).

The reason we are bandying about these various penal code sections is to illustrate just how complicated even a simple charge of Southern California credit card fraud can become. To that end, whether you face a simple charge or a complex series of charges in conjunction with credit card fraud, mail fraud, or any other white collar crime in Southern California, it behooves you to get solid legal representation.

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