15 SoCal Chiropractors Busted In $6M Insurance Fraud Scheme Lead By Studio City Colleague
STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) – Fifteen Southern California chiropractors have been arrested in a multimillion-dollar insurance fraud scheme which was run by their Studio City colleague, the L.A. County district attorney's office announced Friday.
Most of the chiropractors were arrested in a sweep Thursday.
Yury Chernega, 47, of Studio City, was the ringleader of the scheme in which he referred new patients to fellow colleagues, who in turn filed fake automobile collision medical claims on behalf of those patients, the DA's office said.
Between 2015 and 2018, Chernega then received $6 million in illegal kickback fees for the referrals, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, the 15 chiropractors defrauded about 30 insurance companies to the tune of a combined approximately $500,000, the DA's office said.
Chernega did not report the illegal income on his tax returns, the complaint alleges.
All the suspects face felony charges including insurance fraud, participating in patient referral rebates when licensed in the healing arts or as a chiropractor. Cherenga faces further counts of failure to file an income tax return and money laundering.
If convicted, the suspects face a maximum sentence of anywhere from 10 to 18 years in prison.
Here is a list of the other 14 chiropractors arrested:
- Michael Milman, 53, of Beverly Hills;
- John Sherf, 43, Sherman Oaks;
- Victoria Davidovsky Lucas, 50, of Pacific Palisades;
- Sam Amirmoazzami, 45, of Encino;
- Kamiar Riahi, 44, of Woodland Hills;
- Ramin Lavi, 55, of Chatsworth;
- Gustavo Adolfo Nino, 55, of Pasadena;
- Kamron Nourgostar, 35, of Irvine;
- Jae Ho Park, 51, of Coto de Caza;
- Danush Haghani, 46, of Yorba Linda;
- David Wayne Ginoza, 54, of Torrance;
- Alan P. Grubstein, 69, of Rancho Cucamonga;
- Robin Stacy Long, 50, of Newhall; and
- Nahid Haji Acs, 62, of Rancho Cucamonga.
Most of them will be arraigned on Monday, May 6.
Click here to read the felony complaint.
