Munir Uwaydah was an orthopedic surgeon well known as a treating physician in California workers’ compensation cases. He has been charged as the ringleader in one of California’s biggest health fraud schemes, which included unnecessary operations by an untrained assistant that scarred patients forever, according to indictments unsealed in Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey alleged in a case filed in 2015 that Uwaydah and 14 associates, including another doctor and a lawyer, bilked insurance companies out of $150 million in the scheme.

The fraud indictment also names Uwaydah’s business associate Kelly Soo Park, who was acquitted in a sensational murder trial several years ago of strangling the doctor’s ex-girlfriend, college student and aspiring model Juliana Redding.

During that murder trial, prosecutors had described Park as a “female James Bond” who was hired to kill Uwaydah’s former girlfriend Redding because of a failed business deal between Redding’s father, who is an Arizona pharmacist, and Uwaydah. The doctor was never charged in the murder case and denied any involvement in the killing.

Redding was strangled in Santa Monica in 2008. Karen Thompson of the Santa Monica Police Department was the lead investigator on the murder case. Prosecutors alleged that Park strangled Redding with her bare hands and left overwhelming DNA evidence on the body and around the apartment. They say that Uwaydah who had dated Redding gave Park a six-figure payment to kill her after a business deal soured with Redding’s father.

Prosecutors alleged in the murder case that Park turned on a gas stove and lit candles in an effort to blow up the apartment after strangling the victim and dragging her scratched and bruised body into the bedroom.

Prosecutors during the murder trial had presented a link between Park and Uwaydah, alleging she had received $250,000 before Redding’s killing from Uwaydah, who was her employer at the time. Over the next 18 months, Park or her company received another $750,000 from Uwaydah’s company, according to the prosecutors.

Park is now accused in the pending fraud case of being the office manager and personal assistant to Uwaydah who ran Frontline Medical Associates, which prosecutors allege served as a front to fraudulently bill more than $150 million to insurance companies.

But Kelly Soo Park bites back.

Before her trial on murder charges, the judge ruled that she would not allow Park to present any evidence of third party culpability for the murder after Park’s key witness on that question, Melissa Ayala, invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to testify when subpoenad as a witness.

As part of her criminal defense, Park sought to introduce evidence that Redding’s killer was actually John Gilmore, the victim’s boyfriend at the time of her death. Gilmore had a history of domestic violence and had previously assaulted Redding.

Park’s investigator interviewed Gilmore’s former girlfriend, Melissa Ayala. During that interview, Ayala told the investigator that Gilmore had been violent toward her and had choked her on at least three occasions. According to Ayala, the first of these incidents occurred after Ayala brought up Redding’s death and accused Gilmore of murdering Redding.

After learning of this potentially exculpatory evidence, Park gave notice to the District Attorney of her intention to call Ayala as a defense witness at trial. Detective Thompson then contacted Ayala and allegedly attempted to dissuade her from testifying for the defense. Park alleges that Thompson later spoke with the El Segundo Police Department about filing charges against Ayala for assault and criminal threats against Gilmore based on an incident that had occurred during the previous year.

After her acquittal, Park sued City of Santa Monica Police Detective Karen Thompson alleging that Thompson violated her constitutional rights by intimidating and attempting to dissuade Ayala from testifying on behalf of the defense. Park asserted that Thompson orchestrated criminal charges against Ayala with the intention that Ayala invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify on Park’s behalf.

The federal district court dismissed Parks lawsuit against Thompson for failure to state a claim. But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this month in the published case of Kelly Soo Park v Karen Thompson.

The majority opinion concluded that “Park’s complaint alleged facts that are “suggestive” of an agreement to engage in “illegal conduct” and reinstated the complaint. Park will now proceed with her case against Detective Thompson.