Two area doctors were arrested Wednesday for allegedly taking part in a $250 million fraudulent billing scheme involving 1- 800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgeries.
Julian Omidi, 49, of West Hollywood, and Mirali Zarrabi, 55, of Beverly Hills, were named in a 37-count federal indictment accusing them of mail and wire fraud, making false statements, money laundering and identity theft. Omidi’s medical license was revoked in 2009, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors contend that Omidi’s companies would have prospective Lap-Band patients undergo sleep studies designed to find medical conditions that were then used to convince insurance companies to pre-approve the Lap-Band procedures. In some cases, results of the sleep studies were falsified to support the need for the procedure, leading to unneeded medical procedures and causing insurance companies to shell out at least $38 million for Lap-Band surgeries, prosecutors said. The Lap-Band is a silicon ring surgically inserted around the stomach designed to treat obesity.
If insurance companies failed to authorize the surgeries, Omidi’s GetThin companies would still bill the insurers about $15,000 for each of the sleep studies, receiving millions of dollars in reimbursements, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Zarrabi, meanwhile, allegedly allowed his electronic signature to be used by GetThin to make it appear that he had reviewed the falsified sleep studies, even though he had not done so and knew the results were being altered.
“Patients were harmed as a result of this fraud scheme when they were subjected to unnecessary medical procedures, and insurance providers were harmed when they paid out tens of millions of dollars after receiving fraudulent bills,” Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra Brown said.
Omidi and Zarrabi face up to 20 years in prison for each of the 31 mail and wire fraud counts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
While a West Hollywood resident, Omidi practices Beverly Hills. Zarrabi’s practice is in Los Angeles.
Omidi has been mired in other controversies. ABC News in 2014 reported that federal agents raided Omidi’s GetThin office and arrested one employee. The Department of Justice also arrested Cindy Omidi, the Omidis’ mother, on a charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by attempting to hide transactions from the government.
In 2014, federal agents seized more than $100 million in cash and securities from the Omidis. Also a class action lawsuit was filed by relatives of two patients who died after Lap-Band surgeries, with the suit alleging false advertising. In 2013, a settlement was reached to pay $1.3 million to fund compensation for members of the plaintiff class as well as to fund a billboard campaign warning of the risks of the surgeries.
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