Philip A. Sobol M.D. has signed and filed a Plea Agreement in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He agreed to plead guilty to a two-count information which charges him with Conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and Interstate Travel in Aid of a Racketeering Enterprise, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952.

In paragraph 3 of the Agreement, he agrees to make payment of half of the agreed-upon forfeited amounts and/or restitution totaling $5.2 million no later than 180 days of the entry of his guilty plea, and the remainder no later than 30 days before his sentencing.

Sobol further agreed to cooperate fully with the United States Attorneys Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service – Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service, and, as directed by the USAO, any other federal, state, local, or foreign prosecuting, enforcement, administrative, or regulatory authority. This cooperation requires him to respond truthfully and completely to all questions that may be put to him, whether in interviews, before a grand jury, or at any trial or other court proceeding.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduction in the applicable Sentencing Guidelines.

Sobol specifically admitted in this document that “Beginning in or around 2005, and continuing to in or around April 2013, there was an agreement between two or more persons to commit Mail Fraud and Honest Services Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1346 and Interstate Travel in Aid of a Racketeering Enterprise, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1952(a) (3)” He further agreed that he understands that the total maximum sentence for all offenses to which defendant is pleading guilty is 10 years imprisonment; a 3-year period of supervised release; a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offenses, whichever is greatest; and a mandatory special assessment of $200.

He agreed that he is “in fact guilty to the offenses” and agreed to a statement of facts stating that he agreed to exchange monetary kickbacks in return for the referral of patients to Pacific Hospital for surgical services paid for primarily through the California Workers’ Compensation System (“CWCS”). In paying the kickbacks and submitting the resulting claims for the surgical services, the conspirators acted with the intent to defraud workers’ compensation insurance carriers and to deprive the patients of their right of honest services. Drobot and other co-conspirators offered to pay kickbacks to doctors and chiropractors in return for their referring workers’ compensation patients to Pacific Hospital for spinal surgeries, other types of surgeries, magnetic resonance imaging, toxicology, durable medical equipment, and other services.

Sobol either performed surgeries on the patients at Pacific Hospital himself, or – particularly in the case of spine surgeries – admitted he referred them to other surgeons, with specific instructions to those surgeons that they were to perform the surgeries only at Pacific Hospital, if possible, as a condition of receiving the referrals.