On Thursday, a federal judge in Northern California ordered Pain Free Diagnostics Inc. to deposit the $1.2 million it owes in restitution to over 24 defrauded carriers. The company was owned by Woodland Hills chiropractor Bahar Gharib-Danesh, who pleaded guilty to helping another chiropractor commit fraud, and operated under the additional names Pain Relief Health Center and Pain Free Management. The scheme resulted in the fraudulent billing of over $2.5 million to insurance companies. The California Division of Workers’ Compensation has stayed over 1,000 liens filed by Pain Relief Health Center, totaling a value of over $4.6 million.
In an unrelated case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern California obtained a guilty plea from a doctor for accepting kickbacks for compound drug prescriptions and orders for interferential stimulation therapy. Dr. Phong Tran was indicted by a grand jury in June 2016, and is scheduled to be sentenced December 3rd.