Orange, CA – The California Department of Insurance recently announced that Moses Luna of Newport Beach had been arrested on 20 felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly billing 20 separate insurance companies for translation and interpreting services to collect over $310,000 in undeserved workers’ compensation fees.
An investigation by the Department of Insurance and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office found Luna, a workers’ compensation attorney, created Adelante Interpreting, Inc., a translation and interpreting company, and then fraudulently billed 20 separate insurance carriers for translation and interpreting services.
Luna exclusively referred his own workers’ compensation clients to Adelante Interpreters to fraudulently collect over $311,220 in workers’ compensation fees. The fees Luna received were for translation and interpreting services rendered to workers’ compensation claimants during depositions and medical appointments. Insurance companies paid the fees, due to Luna’s referrals, since the services were necessary for processing the claims.
Luna failed to disclose his financial interest in the company, as required by law, and used his daughter’s name on corporate paperwork to hide his ownership of the company. Although his daughter’s name was used for the paperwork, Luna controlled all aspects of Adelante Interpreters including, but not limited to: administrative protocols, employee protocols, independent contractor protocols, as well as billing and collection protocols.
The victim insurance companies include: ACM, AIG, Amtrust, BHHC, CompWest, Employers, ESIS, Farmers, Hartford, ICW, Liberty Mutual, Markel, Matrix, Midwest, Sedgwick, SCIF, Sentry, Travelers, York and Zurich.
Luna is scheduled to return to court on January 19, 2021. This case is being prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Source: CDI