Dive Brief:
- Transcripts of grand jury testimony have been made public in what the Los Angeles County district attorney's office is calling one of the biggest cases of insurance fraud in California state history, the Los Angeles Times reports.
- The transcripts detail patients' alleged experiences at the clinic of Dr. Munir Uwaydah, including unnecessary surgeries often illegally performed by a physician assistant.
- Prosecutors say the clinic fraudulently billed more than $150 million to insurance companies and paid conspirators up to $10,000 per month for illegal referrals.
Dive Insight:
The charges in the case include conspiracy, insurance fraud, aggravated mayhem, and capping, which includes illegal patient referrals, the Times reports.
The clinic first came under investigation due to a previous a murder case that resulted in Uwaydah fleeing to Lebanon when he became a person of interest but was not charged. The D.A.'s office reported last week he has been arrested in Germany but he has not made a court appearance. The other defendants in the case have pleaded not guilty.
Among the details released in the grand jury testimony: the clinic allegedly billed for massive quantities of drugs that patients never received. According to a State Farm special investigator, the insurer was billed $126,000 for 30,000 pills during a 14-month period for a single patient.
