2 Face Fraud Counts in Fertility Scandal
Two of the three physicians accused of stealing eggs and implanting them in unsuspecting women at UC Irvine’s now-defunct fertility clinic were each indicted Thursday on 30 counts of federal mail fraud for allegedly submitting false claims to insurance companies.
The indictments handed down by a federal grand jury accuse Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda, 47, and Dr. Sergio C. Stone, his former partner at UC Irvine’s Center for Reproductive Health, of illegally billing more than half a dozen insurance companies for medical services between 1991 and 1995.
Stone, 54, who remains under house arrest in his Villa Park home in connection with 10 counts of federal mail fraud filed against him in April, now faces added counts.
Balmaceda fled to his native Chile last year after the scandal broke, and is not expected to be extradited or to return to the United States on his own.
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