Man Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion, Mail Fraud

A Woodland Hills man pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and mail fraud for covering up money his physician wife received for treating automobile accident victims, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Alka Sagar.

Jakov Novgorodsky, 53, is charged with cashing $525,660 worth of checks and failing to report the income to the Internal Revenue Service from 1992-94. The money, according to the U.S. attorney’s office, was paid to Dr. Galina Novgorodsky by personal injury attorneys for medical services she provided to their clients.

Sagar said Jakov Novgorodsky also paid illegal cash kickbacks to administrators of a law office who referred patients to his wife’s practice.

Jakov Novgorodsky also used the mail in a scheme to defraud insurance companies of the money they paid to settle personal injury claims, Sagar said.

Jakov Novgorodsky, who faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 6 by U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson.