David Gomez Convicted of Mail Fraud, Los Angeles CA, 2023

David Gomez, 52, of San Pedro, is going down for a $3 million health care rip-off that preyed on his own union brothers. A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted him on 20 counts of mail fraud after a trial exposing a years-long scam that falsified medical records and paid off union members to funnel business to clinics that billed for services never rendered.

Gomez, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Local 13, helped run two clinics in Long Beach and San Pedro under the name Port Medical. Alongside co-defendant Sergio Amador, he used shell management companies to siphon funds from the ILWU-Pacific Maritime Association Welfare Plan, which provides health benefits to dockworkers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Inside the clinics, records were rigged to show that ILWU members and even children as young as 5 received repeated chiropractic and massage therapy treatments they never got. Workers were handed stacks of sign-in stickers to sign in bulk, and when that wasn’t enough, signatures were forged outright. The goal: fabricate enough patient visits to justify massive payouts from the union’s health plan.

Massage therapists were coached to doctor notes to pass audits — told never to write that a patient had “no complaints,” and to alter chart entries slightly to avoid detection. One directive read: “change things up a little!!!” It was a billing machine built on lies, designed to exploit every loophole in the system.

Investigators say the scheme funneled at least $3 million from the Welfare Plan into Gomez and Amador’s pockets through their management companies. The money wasn’t just stolen from a faceless insurer — it was ripped from a fund meant to care for dockworkers, their families, and retirees who depend on those benefits.

“This defendant stole money intended to protect and promote the health of unionized dockworkers,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. Sentencing is set for January 9, 2017. Gomez faces up to 20 years in prison on each count. As FBI Assistant Director Deirdre Fike put it: “The FBI and our partners will continue to crack down on health care fraud — a crime that hits us all in the wallet and the gut.”

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