Criminals have fraudulently stolen $45.6 billion in unemployment benefits from U.S. government programs meant to assist Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic. The federal government started an unemployment aid program in March 2020 during the early days of the pandemic. The hundreds of billions in pandemic aid immediately attracted criminals, who exploited the…

Los Angeles reached a $22.5 million settlement with Sameday Health—a COVID-19 testing company the city alleged forged hundreds of coronavirus test results and conducted insurance fraud, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced on April 21. The complaint filed by Feuer and District Attorney George Gascón accused Sameday and its CEO Felix Huettenbach of promising…

LOS ANGELES—A former weight-loss doctor and a Beverly Hills physician face trial Tuesday for allegedly taking part in a $250 million bogus billing scheme involving 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgeries. Julian Omidi, 53, of West Hollywood, and Mirali Zarrabi, 59, of Beverly Hills, are charged with multiple federal counts alleging mail and wire fraud, false statements, money…

LOS ANGELES—A Seal Beach doctor pleaded guilty June 2 to a federal conspiracy charge, admitting he participated in a scheme to submit $8.4 million in phony claims to Medi-Cal for services never provided. Dr. Keyvan Amirikhorheh, 61, who worked as a physician at Los Angeles Community Clinic, and four co-defendants raked in $6.6 million from…