18 arrests were announced in nine federal districts across the United States in a nationwide coordinated law enforcement action to combat health care fraud. Two of the most significant criminal cases in this sweep were filed in the Central District of California.
One of the cases involved 63 year old Dr. Anthony Hao Dinh, who lives in Newport Coast – a community south of Los Angeles – who was allegedly the second highest biller to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Covid-19 Uninsured Program in the country. Dinh currently holds license 7642 as an Osteopathic Physician and Surgeon issued by the California Osteopathic Medical Board. There are currently no disciplinary charges pending against him. His address of record is 13132 Magnolia Street in Garden Grove.
As a result of the scheme Dr. Dinh and his companies allegedly were paid more than $153 million, and he used fraud proceeds for high-risk options trading in securities markets, losing over $100 million from November 2020 through February 2022.
Dr. Dinh allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for treatment of patients who were insured, billed for services that were not rendered, and billed for services that were not medically necessary, according to a criminal complaint filed on April 10. Prosecutors say one witness was a commander in the National Guard who brought an entire 60-person unit for testing. The witness denied getting any treatment, even though Dr. Dinh‘s clinic billed the Uninsured Program for a biopsy and control of a nosebleed.
Dr. Dinh is also charged with two other individuals for allegedly submitting over 70 fraudulent loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and fraudulently obtaining over $3 million in loan funds.
The other defendants named in this scheme are Dr. Dinh’s sister – Hang Trinh Dinh, 64, of Lake Forest, who is currently a fugitive being sought by federal authorities – and Matthew Hoang Ho, 65, of Melbourne, Florida, who also was arrested on April 12.
Dr. Dinh is charged in the complaint with health care fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Hang Dinh and Matthew Ho are each charged with one count of wire fraud.
After being arrested on April 12 and subsequently released on a $7 million bond, Dr. Dinh is scheduled to be arraigned in United States District Court on May 22. If he were to be convicted of the three charges, Dr. Dinh would face a statutory maximum sentence of 50 years in federal prison.
In another case filed the Central District of California a clinical lab owner was charged for allegedly submitting over $358 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, HRSA, and a private insurance company for laboratory testing.
The indictment alleges that the defendant’s lab performed COVID-19 screening testing for nursing homes and other facilities with vulnerable elderly populations, as well as primary and secondary schools. But to increase its reimbursements, the defendant allegedly fraudulently added claims for respiratory pathogen panel tests even though ordering providers and facility administrators did not want or need them.
Lourdes Navarro, 64, of Glendale, was charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and making false statements, in connection with the operation of Matias Clinical Laboratory, Inc., also known as Health Care Providers Laboratory, a laboratory she operated with her husband Imran Shams at 14411 Palmrose St, Baldwin Park, California.
Prosecutors say the two carried out a scheme to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, the HRSA’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program, and an insurance company for respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) testing that was not ordered, medically unnecessary, procured through illegal kickbacks and bribes, and ineligible for reimbursement.
The superseding indictment alleges approximately $241 million in billed claims.