U.S. Accuses 5 Doctors of Fraud
Five Westside doctors who performed cosmetic surgeries have been accused of bilking insurance companies by disguising tummy tucks, nose jobs and other elective procedures as medically necessary, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
One physician, Ronald W. Strahan of Brentwood, admitted in a plea agreement that he inserted foreign objects into anesthetized patients’ noses and photographed the supposed deformities to trick insurance companies, according to prosecutors.
Strahan, owner of the West Olympic Surgery Center, acknowledged in the plea agreement that he diagnosed patients as suffering from nonexistent medical conditions or bogus accidents to obtain insurance payments.
Another doctor at the West Olympic Surgery Center, Alvin Reiter of Beverly Hills, admitted in his plea agreement that he falsely diagnosed patients who wanted liposuction and cosmetic rhinoplasty as having medical disorders.
Strahan, 61, and Reiter, 55, have agreed to enter guilty pleas to four counts of mail fraud.
Also charged is a Malibu lawyer, Gustavo Zarate, 30. He was indicted on charges of obstructing an FBI investigation of the two doctors by destroying thousands of documents in patient files at the surgery center.
A fourth defendant, Luis Sandoval, 49, a Guatemalan national, was charged with aiding Strahan and Reiter by recruiting and coaching patients when they filled out questionnaires.
In what prosecutors described as another major cosmetic surgery scam, charges were filed Thursday against three doctors and a marketer who worked at the Beverly Hills Outpatient Surgery Center. They too have agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud charges, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
They join five doctors and marketers associated with the Beverly Hills Outpatient Surgery Center who were previously charged with a scheme that allowed patients to obtain free or low-cost cosmetic surgeries because their insurance companies were billed for medically necessary procedures.
The physicians charged Thursday were identified as Teofilo Po, 69, of Whittier, accused of padding insurance claims; David B. Gendein, 41, of West Hollywood, accused of inflating the time he spent in the operating room and falsely claiming he provided anesthesia services; and anesthesiologist Kevin Tehrani, 35, of Los Angeles, charged with inflating his operating room time and falsely claiming procedures were medically necessary.
Lan Thi Xuan, 32, of Santa Ana, who referred Vietnamese women to the surgical center, also was charged with mail fraud.
“More than a dozen doctors and other professionals associated with the cosmetic surgery industry in Southern California have now been charged with ripping off insurance companies and, ultimately, consumers,” U.S. Atty. Alejandro N. Mayorkas said.
