Two local physicians were indicted by a federal Grand Jury as part of Operation “Spinal Cap,” which targeted a long-running health care fraud scheme that generated nearly $1 billion in fraudulent claims to the federal government, the state of California, and private insurers.

The scheme involved more than $40 million in illegal kickbacks paid to doctors and other medical professionals in exchange for referring thousands of patients who received surgeries and other services at Pacific Hospital.

Jacob Tauber, 66, of Beverly Hills, an orthopedic surgeon, and Serge Obukhoff, 62, of Malibu, a neurosurgeon, were charged for their roles in receiving illegal kickbacks to influence the referral of patients to Pacific Hospital. The indictment also includes honest services fraud and Travel Act charges against both Tauber and Obukhoff.

Tauber is currently listed by the DWC Medical Unit as a QME with offices in Beverly Hills, Glendale and Palm Desert. He is listed as a QME in the category of “Spine’ as well as “Orthopedic Surgery.”

According to the 65 page indictment, Tauber performed non-spinal surgeries and referred patients to other surgeons for procedures at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach. Obukhoff practiced out of various medical clinics in Southern California. Influenced by the promise of kickbacks and bribes, Tauber and Obukhoff caused patients with insurance or other covered claims to receive surgeries and services at Pacific Hospital.

The kickbacks involved Philip Sobol M.D. According to the indictment “Sobol would receive remuneration to induce his referral of patients potentially requiring surgery (“Sobol Referrals”) to a “stable” of doctors, including, from at least 2009, defendant TAUBER, and from at least in or about June 2011 to in or about May 2012, defendant OBUKHOFF, who would both know of Sobol’s kickback arrangement with Pacific Hospital, and who would facilitate that arrangement by performing surgery on Sobol Referrals at Pacific Hospital. The illegal kickback and bribe payments would be provided to Sobol under the guise of pharmacy and option agreements.”

In the same indictment, Tauber was separately charged with receiving illicit payments to refer urinalysis specimens to a specific lab. According to the indictment “Advanced Practice Serv1ces, Inc., doing business as Advance Pharmacy Services (“APS”), was a “marketing” entity owned and controlled by Drobot Jr. that steered ancillary service referrals, purchases, and orders involving magnetic resonance imaging (“MRis”), toxicology testing, and durable medical equipment (“DME”) to business affiliates that paid APS for generating such business.”

The case is being investigated by the United States Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ashwin Janakiram of the Major Frauds Section and Joseph T. McNally and Scott D. Tenley of the Santa Ana Branch Office.