SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA
A federal grand jury indicted three additional doctors for their roles in a 15-year-long health care fraud scheme involving more than $15 million in illegal kickbacks, according to authorities.
The kickbacks were paid to doctors and other medical professionals in exchange for referring thousands of patients who received spinal surgeries, according to officials.
More than $580 million in fraudulent bills were submitted, mostly to California’s worker compensation system, officials said.
David Hobart Payne, 60, an orthopedic surgeon who lives in Irvine, is facing charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud, and using an interstate facility to aid in unlawful activity.
A five-count superseding indictment returned alleges that Payne accepted bribes of about $450,000 to steer more than $10 million in kickback-tainted surgeries to Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, officials said.
Jeffrey David Gross, 52, an orthopedic surgeon who resides in Dana Point and Las Vegas, Nevada, is charged with conspiracy, honest services mail fraud and honest services wire fraud.
The indictment alleges that Gross made at least $622,000 in exchange for performing or referring more than $19 million in kickback-tainted surgeries to Pacific Hospital, according to authorities.
Lokesh Tantuwaya, 51, who maintains residences in Rancho Santa Fe and Rock Springs, Wyoming, was named in a 13-count indictment alleging a conspiracy, honest services fraud, and using an interstate facility to aid in unlawful activity.
Tantuwaya, who pleaded not guilty in April.
The indictment alleges that Tantuwaya received about $3.2 million in kickbacks for referring or performing $38 million in surgeries to Pacific Hospital.
The kickback scheme centered on Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, which specialized in surgeries, especially spinal and orthopedic procedures.
The owner of Pacific Hospital, Michael D. Drobot, conspired with doctors, chiropractors, and marketers to pay kickbacks in return for the referral of thousands of patients to Pacific Hospital for spinal surgeries and other medical services paid for primarily through the California workers’ compensation system.
During its final five years, the scheme resulted in the submission of over $500 million in fraudulent medical bills. Nine defendants were convicted for participating in the kickback scheme, according to officials.