Los Angeles-Area Chiropractor Sentenced in $4.8M ILWU Benefit Scam
Posted on
Anyone doubting that health care providers enable union benefit fraud probably hasn’t looked at Southern California lately. Mahyar David Yadidi, a Los Angeles-area chiropractor, was sentenced yesterday in federal court to 46 months in prison for submitting about $4.8 million in fraudulent reimbursements to an International Longshore and Warehouse Union health plan, and ordered to pay nearly $2 million in restitution. Yadidi had pleaded guilty last November after being charged in September. Two clinic employees, Ivan Semerdjiev and Julian Williams, had received prison sentences, respectively, of one year and six months. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, Office of Inspector General, and Employee Benefits Security Administration, part of a larger investigation into Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
Top Ten Union Corruption Stories of the Year
Posted on
If one form of union corruption dominated 2020, it was benefit fraud. And there were quite a few huge hauls. In California, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union-Pacific Maritime Association health plan was fleeced twice over. In one case, four persons made off with $3 million. In the other, a Los Angeles-area chiropractor, Mahyar David Yadidi aided by two associates, collected reimbursements worth $4.8 million for nonexistent or unnecessary services. That’s not even including a separate $3 million ILWU scam resulting in sentences for three persons back in 2019. In New York City, executives of the Navillus construction firm were indicted for their roles in a scheme allegedly depriving members of over $1 million in retirement benefits. And in a shocker, an external audit and a long internal memo accused longtime International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger and another IAFF official of mis