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California Man Pleads Guilty to $1.2 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
A 75-year-old clinical psychologist from Marina del Rey, California, has pleaded guilty to health care fraud in a scheme to defraud the California workers’ compensation insurance system.
John Thomas Terrence, 75, of Marina del Rey, pleaded guilty today to health care fraud involving a scheme to defraud the California workers’ compensation insurance system, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, Terrence generated reports for each patient that were virtually word-for-word identical, and then submitted identical bills to the insurance companies. He was not alone in this scheme, as co-defendants Bhahar Gharib-Danesh, 41, of Woodland Hills, and Na Young Eoh, 44, of Bakersfield, were chiropractors working at the same company.
Gharib-Danesh and Eoh previously pleaded guilty to health care fraud charges in this case, and all three defendants admitted to assisting in submitting bills to workers’ compensation insurers for medical-legal evaluations for which they were not legally permitted to bill.
The scheme was carried out through Pain Free Diagnostics Inc. (dba Pain Free Management), which previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and agreed to pay restitution to the defrauded worker’s compensation insurers in the amount of $1.2 million.
The investigation into this scheme was a joint effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the California Department of Insurance Fraud Division, and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark J. McKeon and Michael Tierney are prosecuting the case.
Terrence is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill on October 22, 2018, and faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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