2 Plastic Surgeons Accused of Fraud

Two plastic surgeons were charged Tuesday with disguising tummy tucks, eyelid redesigns and other cosmetic procedures as medically necessary operations.

Drs. Kong Koh, 58, of Beverly Hills, and Lee Newman, 63, of Beverlywood, agreed to plead guilty in the case in exchange for leniency.

A third defendant, Julie Vu, 50, of Garden Grove, has admitted recruiting patients from across the country for the clinics where the two doctors worked.

She was charged with fraud last week and also has agreed to plead guilty in federal court.

Insurance company investigators say many of the patients recruited were Asian women enticed by ads encouraging them to adopt Western features through eyelid, nose and chin surgeries.

The case, investigated by the FBI, is part of a larger probe that was triggered in 1995 when an anti-fraud unit at Prudential Insurance noticed that half a dozen Vietnamese American women who worked at the same plant near Atlanta had been to the same Beverly Hills surgeon.

When questioned, some of them acknowledged going to California to have their tummies tucked, breasts enlarged, and eyelids and noses redesigned--not for the medically needed procedures for which the insurance company was billed.

To date, about 50 Southern California doctors and a dozen laser surgery centers have come under investigation.

Vu, who got a fee from the clinics she supplied, promised prospective patients that their insurance would pay for all or most of their surgical bills as well as travel and hotel accommodations while they were in Southern California, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Linick.

Elective cosmetic surgery usually is not covered by insurance policies.

Federal authorities said Newman and Koh knew the patient claims were bogus and falsified their diagnoses in reports submitted to insurance companies for reimbursement.

Although no precise figures were cited, the criminal complaints against the two doctors said insurance companies lost many thousands of dollars.

Newman, charged with five counts of fraud, worked out of the Beverly Hills Outpatient Surgery Center on Robertson Boulevard and at the Moreno Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center in Riverside County.

Koh, who also worked at the Beverly Hills Outpatient Surgery Center, was charged with six fraud counts.

The physicians also were accused of falsely claiming that they were assisted by another doctor during surgeries.

Attorneys for Newman and Vu did not return phone calls.

Vu is scheduled to enter her guilty plea in Los Angeles federal court Friday. Koh and Newman have court appearances Nov. 9.