The California Department of Insurance (DOI) announced today that Ahmad Zaki Noori, a 41-year old welder from Sacramento, has been arraigned on two felony counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud. Noori allegedly misrepresented symptoms after a work injury and collected over $20,000 in benefits to which he should not be entitled.
After suffering an injury in July of 2019 while working as a welder, Noori filed a workers’ compensation claim claiming he was suffering severe amnesia and had difficulty with speaking, walking, driving, and other basic living functions. A subsequent DOI investigation, including undercover surveillance, revealed that Noori appeared to have misrepresented his symptoms. According to the DOI, Noori was seen “speaking, walking, and driving – all functions he claimed not to be able to do as a result of the injury. The surveillance also showed him performing duties at an automobile dismantling yard, like loading items onto a flatbed trailer and changing a spare tire.”
After review of the videos and a report from his doctor that Noori was acting in a much different manner on camera than during his appointments, Noori was arrested on April 13th. His misrepresentations resulted in $21,000 in workers’ compensation payments to which he should not be entitled, and the insurance carrier suffered a loss of an additional $80,000 in costs including the investigation and legal action.