By Patrick Sullivan, Contributing Editor
Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features some major enforcement news, as multiple agencies including the California Department of Insurance announced the largest case of insurance fraud in its history, to the tune of over $500 million, which lead to Michael Drobot, the former owner/operator of Pacific Hospital in Long Beach. Drobot was accused of running a scheme in which he billed workers’ comp insurers hundreds of millions of dollars for spinal surgeries performed on patients who had been referred by dozens of medical professionals who were paid illegal kickbacks.
The US Attorney’s Office also announced that Drobot had entered a plea agreement, in which he also admitted to paying bribes to California Senator Ronald Calderon. According to the US Attorney, Calderon has also agreed to surrender to authorities after being named in a Grand Jury indictment that accuses him of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from Drobot in order to preserve the “spinal pass-through” law that was part of Drobot’s scheme, and other bribery related charges.