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Owner of San Pedro clinic sentenced to nearly 4 years for $5 million health care fraud scheme

by in News

A chiropractor who operated a clinic in San Pedro was sentenced Tuesday, Aug. 25, to just under four years in federal prison for defrauding a dock workers union benefit plan of nearly $5 million in bogus billings, authorities said.

Mahyar David Yadidi, 38, of West Los Angeles was also ordered to pay nearly $2 million in restitution by Judge R. Gary Klausner, said Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Yadidi pleaded guilty in November in Los Angeles federal court to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

He defrauded the Longshore and Warehouse Union-Pacific Maritime Association by offering kickbacks to patients for attending his clinic, San Pedro Philips Chiropractic, and billing the benefit plan for therapy services that were either not rendered or not medically necessary, McEvoy said.

Yadidi would offer $50 in cash to those patients and also paid plan members $50 each time they allowed him to bill the plan when they did not visit his clinic, according to criminal information filed in the case.

The scheme ran from July 2016 to October 2018, according to the criminal complaint.

Yadidi was ultimately terminated as an authorized provider by ILWU-PMA in August 2017, but continued the conspiracy by changing the name of his clinic, which was previously called Synergy Healthcare and Wellness Center, and continuing to operate the clinic after naming another person as the clinic’s primary owner and operator, McEvoy said.

Two men who worked for Yadidi and were also charged, 45-year-old Julian Williams of San Pedro and 41-year-old Ivan Semerdjiev of Irvine, also pleaded guilty in the case and were handed sentences of six months and one year in federal prison, respectively, McEvoy said.

In some cases, Yadidi billed the plan for chiropractic and physical therapy services performed by Williams, a personal trainer who worked for Yadidi, but was not licensed or otherwise qualified to perform the services, McEvoy said.