Surgeon Pleads Guilty to Bilking Insurance Firms

A Beverly Hills doctor accused of submitting false insurance claims on behalf of patients given nose jobs, tummy tucks and other cosmetic surgeries pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to mail fraud.

Alvin Reiter, 55, was one of five cosmetic surgeons charged this month for billing insurance companies for procedures not covered by patients’ health plans.

“We hope these cases serve as a wake-up call to cosmetic surgeons” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Jack Weiss.

Federal officials have recently begun monitoring insurance reports filed by cosmetic surgeons, Weiss said, hoping to stem the growing practice of bilking insurance firms.

Fraudulent claims, he said, are “a large contributing factor to the high cost of and unavailability of health insurance in the region.”

Reiter, a physician at the West Olympic Surgery Center, admitted in a plea agreement that he told insurance companies that patients seeking liposuction and cosmetic rhinoplasty had medical disorders, U.S. District Court officials said.

He faces a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison for four counts of mail fraud.

Dr. Ronald W. Strahan, owner of the West Olympic Surgery Center, also acknowledged misleading insurance companies, prosecutors said. Strahan, 61, is expected to plead guilty to four counts of mail fraud next week, Weiss said.

Malibu lawyer Gustavo Zarate, 30, and Luis Sandoval, 49, of Guatemala allegedly helped the two doctors by recruiting and coaching patients. They are expected to plead guilty later this month, Weiss said.