U.S. Attorney's Office – Attorney Legal Counsel

Southern California doctor allegedly stole $150 million from federal COVID healthcare program

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 13:06:16 +0000

An Orange County doctor was charged with stealing around $150 million from a federal program providing COVID-19 health services to uninsured patients.

Anthony Hao Dinh, 64, from Newport Coast operated clinics in Westminster and Garden Grove. He is a licensed doctor of osteopathy who was an ear, nose and throat specialist, as well as a facial plastic surgeon, according to the U.S. attorney’s Office.

Dinh allegedly stole millions of dollars by submitting claims for reimbursement under the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides claims reimbursement to healthcare providers for testing, treating or administering vaccines to uninsured patients for COVID.

From July 2020 to March 2021, Dinh allegedly submitted false claims for treating patients who were already insured, services not actually rendered, and services that were not medically necessary, officials said.

“As a result of these false and fraudulent claims, HRSA made payments to defendant Dinh, through [his medical] practices, in the approximate amount of $150 million,” according to court documents.

O.C. woman allegedly stole over $200,000 through rental scams

Officials said this is the “largest fraud scheme in the nation targeting the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program uncovered at this time.”

Dinh is also accused of submitting around 65 fraudulent loan applications seeking nearly $8 million. The programs disbursed around $2.8 million in funds to Dinh.

Dinh was charged with 12 counts of wire fraud, five counts of money laundering (with two of those charges alleging the transfer of more than $11 million to personal stock trading accounts) and one count of obstructing justice.

Dinh was released on a $7 million bond. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30 in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

Man stole over $1.7 million from SoCal banks in check fraud scheme

If convicted, Dinh faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud and three of the money laundering charges, up to 10 years for two of the money laundering charges, and up to 20 years for the obstruction of justice charge that alleges he submitted false patient records in response to a grand jury subpoena.

Two other defendants also involved in the scheme were charged including:

-Dinh’s sister, Hanna (“Hang”) Trinh Dinh, 65, of Lake Forest. She pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and admitted helping submit fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications that sought more than $260,000 in COVID relief funds.

-Matthew Hoang Ho, 66, of Melbourne, Florida, was charged on May 2 in a grand jury indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in relation to the PPP and EIDL applications. A trial date is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2024.

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The post Southern California doctor allegedly stole $150 million from federal COVID healthcare program appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Federal lawsuit filed against SoCal Edison for 2020 Bobcat Fire in Southern California

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 08:56:54 +0000

A federal lawsuit was filed against Southern California Edison on Friday for allegedly causing the devastating Bobcat Fire in 2020, which burned over 114,000 acres in Los Angeles County.

The lawsuit alleges that SCE and Utility Tree Service failed to “properly maintain trees that came into contact with power lines” which caused the blaze.

“The contact resulted in ignition of vegetation on a branch, which fell to the ground and spread,” the suit states.

According to the complaint, the U.S. Forest Service spent over $56 million to battle the fire, and incurred property and natural resource damages of over $65 million.

The Bobcat Fire first ignited on Sept. 6, 2020, and quickly erupted, burning over 114,577 acres over a two-and-a-half month span. The blaze became one of L.A. County’s largest and most devastating fires on record.

Dale Burton, of Leona Valley, tries to put out the fire that continues to smolder at his friend Cheryl Poindexter’s property on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, after the Bobcat Fire burned her home of 27 years and the 11-acre property where she ran an animal rescue in Juniper Hills. (Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP)
Robert Ortiz of Los Angeles County Fire works around a fire engine while protecting a home from the advancing Bobcat Fire along Cima Mesa Rd. Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Juniper Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The wind whips embers from the Joshua trees burned by the Bobcat Fire in Juniper Hills, Calif., Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
A woman watches as the Bobcat Fire burns in Juniper Hill, Calif., Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Flames from the Bobcat Fire dot a hill under a glowing smoky sky in Juniper Hills, Calif., Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
A home burns along Cima Mesa Rd. as the Bobcat Fire advances Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Juniper Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Jesse Vasquez, of the San Bernardino County Fire Department, hoses down hot spots from the Bobcat Fire on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020, in Valyermo, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Mormon Lake Hotshots firefighter Sara Sweeney uses a drip torch to set a backfire to protect mountain communities from the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest on September 10, 2020 north of Monrovia, California. (David McNew/Getty Images)
Smoke from the Bobcat fire is seen over Azusa Sept. 9, 2020.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Robert Ortiz, left, and Alexis Miller of Los Angeles County Fire talk about a plan of attach while protecting a home from the advancing Bobcat Fire along Cima Mesa Rd. Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Juniper Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
A home burns along Cima Mesa Rd. as the Bobcat Fire advances on Sept. 18, 2020, in Juniper Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
MONROVIA, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 15: Smoke and flames are blurred in a long exposure as the Bobcat Fire burns down a hillside near homes on September 15, 2020 in Monrovia, California. California’s national forests remain closed due to wildfires which have already incinerated a record 2.5 million acres this year. The Bobcat Fire, burning in the San Gabriel Mountains, has grown to over 40,000 acres. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Bobcat Fire burns near Cogswell Dam in the Angeles National Forest on Sept. 6, 2020. (Angeles National Forest/ Twitter)
“The broad confluence of factors that you got there in California — the Meditteranean climate, the [dead trees] in the Sierra and then over 2 million properties at risk — shouldn’t be a surprise,” Harbour said. “It’s trite to say … this isn’t the worst of it.” This photo shows a home in Juniper Hills that was destroyed by the Bobcat Fire.(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The remains of a burned home in the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest in Juniper Hills.(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Firefighters work the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California on Sept. 21, 2020. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

The flames ultimately destroyed 171 structures and 178 vehicles, damaged 47 structures, threatened 6,235 structures, and forced widespread evacuations, court documents said.

Nearly 100,000 acres of scorched land were located in the Angeles National Forest. Almost three years later, more than 100 miles of trails and numerous campgrounds still remain closed to the public, officials said.

“The fire effects have been, and will be, detrimental to habitats and wildlife, including the federally endangered wildlife-mountain yellow-legged frog and other federally threatened fish and birds,” court documents said. “The fire also damaged and destroyed irreplaceable cultural and heritage resources.”

Although no specified amount of damages was determined, the U.S. attorney’s Office said the funds sought would be used to recover costs spent battling the fire along with rehabilitation efforts of scorched forest lands.

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