California’s Court of Appeal for the 4th District has upheld the workers’ compensation fraud conviction of Gonzalo Ernesto Paredes, the former Office Administrator for Advanced Radiology. Paredes had been found guilty of 35 counts of “offering or delivering compensation for workers’ compensation patient referrals” in the illegal kickback scheme. He, along with Advanced Radiologoy owner Dr. Ronald Grusd, chiropractor Steven Rigler, and Ruben and Alex Martinez, had been indicted on multiple charges of insurance fraud stemming from a years-long conspiracy involving cash payments and other considerations in exchange for patient referrals.
Rigler and Alexander Martinez had previously been involved in another similar case involving Sam Solakyan, whose companies, including Vital Imaging and the San Diego MRI Institute, had generated $8.8 million in kickbacks, yielding $284 million in billings to workers’ compensation payers.