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ORANGE COUNTY — Authorities have announced the shutdown of a $40 million fraudulent medical billing and kickback scheme, filing charges against “more than two dozen doctors, pharmacists and business owners.”
Among those arrested are 37-year-old Tanya Moreland King and 38-year-old Christopher King, both of Beverly Hills. The two are the purported owners of Monarch Medical Group, Inc., King Medical Management, Inc., and One Source Laboratories, Inc. — all companies established for the practice of handling medical billing and management.
From 2011 to 2015, the Kings are said to have colluded with doctors across the state in the fraudulent billing for unnecessary creams, tests, and treatments — all in the interest of maximizing profits. It is alleged that more than 13,000 patients and 27 insurance carriers fell victim to the scheme.
The pair are accused of developing a complex fraud scheme in which they’d recruit doctors and pharmacists to prescribe unnecessary treatments for patients seeking medical care under workers’ compensation insurance.
In total, the defendants raked in approximately $23.2 million after billing insurers for a total $40 million.
The Kings are also accused of paying for office technicians as an incentive for doctors who provided higher order volumes, the payments for which they would then label as “marketing expenses” to hide the kickbacks.
26 people have been arrested for their involvement:
- Tanya King (37) of Beverly Hills
- Christopher King (38) of Beverly Hills
- Charles Bonner (56) of Irvine
- Mervyn Miller (66) of Irvine
- Rafael Chavez (53) of Apple Valley
- Dr. Jerome Robson (68) of Modesto
- Dr. Eric Schmidt (63) of Santa Rosa
- Dr. Chris Chen (55) of Pleasanton
- Dr. Duke Ahn (49) of Los Alamitos
- Dr. Robert E. Caton (65) of Modesto
- Dr. Ismael Silva Jr. (63) of Newport Coast
- Dr. Ismael Geli Silva (38) of Huntington Beach
- Dr. Paul A Stanton (54) of Victorville
- Dr. William Pistel (53) of Modesto
- Dr. Kevin Park (49) of Buena Park
- Dr. Kourosh Shamlou (49) of Newport Coast
- Dr. Mannie Joel (67) of Pleasanton
- Dr. Parvez Fatteh (46) of Plesanton
- Dr. Robert Fenton (68) of Ranchos Palos Verdes
- Dr. Michael Henry (61) of Granite Bay
- Dr. Howard Oliver (70) of Long Beach
- Dr. Eduardo T. Lin I (55) of Pleasanton
- Dr. Paul Kaplan (76) of Folsom
- Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim (40) of Danville
- Dr. Jonathan Cohen (57) of Modesto
- Dr. John Casey Jr. (65) of Modesto
Based on the official California Department of Insurance press release.
