Doctor Convicted in Workers’ Comp Scam

A neurosurgeon has been ordered to pay $250,000 in fines and sentenced to five years’ probation after his conviction in Los Angeles County Superior Court on three money-laundering charges. The doctor, David Gardner of Calabasas, still awaits trial on securities and insurance fraud charges. Both cases were brought by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office in connection with Gardner’s role as the alleged mastermind of what authorities called one of the biggest workers’ compensation scams in Southern California during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gardner spent 6 1/2 months in jail after his arrest in October 1995; he is currently free on bail. He owned the now-closed Primedex Corp. chain of workers’ compensation medical clinics. A lawyer for Gardner, Richard A. Moss, said Gardner was convicted of “a victimless crime” in the money-laundering case and said his client was not involved in any criminal activity. He declined to give the reason for the transactions that led to the money-laundering charges; namely, Gardner’s conversion into cash of more than 300 checks totaling more than $3 million.