{"id":50751,"date":"2022-09-01T22:07:54","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T05:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50751"},"modified":"2022-09-01T22:07:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T05:07:54","slug":"neurosurgeon-guilty-of-accepting-3-3-million-in-illegal-payments-to-perform-spinal-surgeries-at-a-corrupt-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50751","title":{"rendered":"Neurosurgeon Guilty of Accepting $3.3 Million in Illegal Payments to Perform Spinal Surgeries at a Corrupt Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A neurosurgeon pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal criminal charge for accepting approximately $3.3 million in bribes for doing spinal surgeries, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

The surgeries were done at a now-defunct Long Beach hospital whose owner was later imprisoned for committing a massive workers\u2019 compensation system scam.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lokesh Tantuwaya, 55, of San Diego, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and to violate the federal Anti-Kickback statute. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tantuwaya has been in federal custody since May 2021 after he was found to have violated the terms of his pretrial release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 According to his plea agreement and statements at today\u2019s change-of-plea hearing, from 2010 to 2013, Tantuwaya accepted money from Michael Drobot, who owned Pacific Hospital in Long Beach.<\/span><\/p>\n

In exchange for Tantuwaya performing spinal surgeries at that hospital. The bribe amount varied depending on the type of spinal surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pacific Hospital specialized in surgeries, especially spinal and orthopedic procedures. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Drobot conspired with doctors, chiropractors and marketers to pay kickbacks and bribes 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\u2019 compensation system. <\/span><\/p>\n

During its final five years, the scheme resulted in the submission of more than $500 million in medical bills for spine surgeries involving kickbacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tantuwaya entered into contracts with Drobot and Drobot-owned companies. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"brownTantuwaya admitted in his plea agreement that he knew or deliberately was ignorant that the payments were being given to him in exchange for bringing his patient surgeries to Pacific Hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Furthering the scheme, Tantuwaya met with Drobot and Drobot\u2019s employees. Tantuwaya further admitted to depositing bribe checks into his bank accounts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tantuwaya admitted that he knew the receipt of money in exchange for the referral of medical service was illegal and that he owed a fiduciary duty to his patients to not accept money in exchange for taking their surgeries to Pacific Hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"white In total, Tantuwaya received approximately $3.3 million in illegal payments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In April 2013, law enforcement searched Pacific Hospital, which was sold later that year, bringing the kickback scheme to an end.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To date, 23 defendants have been convicted for participating in the kickback scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled a December 9 sentencing hearing, when Tantuwaya will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and the California Department of Insurance investigated this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph T. McNally and Billy Joe McLain of the Violent and Organized Crime Section are prosecuting this case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A neurosurgeon pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal criminal charge for accepting approximately $3.3 million in bribes for doing spinal surgeries, according to officials. The surgeries were done at a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court"],"yoast_head":"\nNeurosurgeon Guilty of Accepting $3.3 Million in Illegal Payments to Perform Spinal Surgeries at a Corrupt Hospital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A neurosurgeon pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal criminal charge for accepting approximately $3.3 million in bribes for doing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50751\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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