On January 3, 2025, Dr. Kevin Tien Do will be heading to court to plead guilty to fraud charges in a scheme that bilked California’s workers’ compensation system out of millions of dollars over many years. And as part of the agreement, he will be doing a big reveal. That is the power of a plea bargain. Agreeing to plead guilty in exchange for concessions. Who knows what concessions Do will get? But he has information to share that’s good enough to get a plea deal.
In his plea agreement, Do admitted that, from October 2018 to February 2023, he conspired to defraud the state of California of millions of dollars of health care funds by defrauding California’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF). The California SIBTF is a special fund administered by California’s workers’ compensation program to provide additional compensation to injured workers who already had a disability or impairment at the time of a subsequent injury. Basically, more money for a fraudster.
Beginning in 2016, Do began to work for a Rancho Cucamunga, CA based medical company, for which he would draft SIBTF-related medical reports that Liberty would then bill to the California SIBTF program. But in October 2018, California suspended Do from participating in California’s workers’ compensation program, because he had previously been convicted of federal health care fraud in 2003. Despite his suspension, Do continued to work for the medical company on SIBTF-related workers’ compensation matters by fraudulently listing other doctors’ names on billing forms and medical reports. The medical company received more than $3 million by the state for the reports Do made after his suspension.
As part of his plea agreement, Do claims he can provide names and details of co-conspirators who hold privileged positions. Despite his bold claims, Do still faces up to 20 years in prison for the mail fraud count and up to three years in federal prison for the tax fraud count.
Shout out to the California Department of Insurance in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Local Doctor Agrees to Plead Guilty in Workers’ Comp Fraud Case” published by Pasadena Now on December 17, 2024.
A Pasadena doctor who worked for a Rancho Cucamonga-based company with ties to a former Orange County prosecutor who is now a state judge has agreed to plead guilty to millions of dollars in workers’ compensation fraud, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Dr. Kevin Tien Do, 59, of Pasadena, agreed last month to plead guilty to single counts each of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and subscribing to a false tax return, prosecutors said. Do, who worked with Liberty Medical Group Inc., is accused of conspiring with a former Orange County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor who is now an Orange County Superior Court judge, federal prosecutors alleged.