Canyon Country Chiropractor Arrested For Insurance Fraud

Published: 2009-03-26 12:49:01
Author: Carol Rock, KHTS Radio, December 11, 2008

Canyon Country chiropractor Bassam Michael Naber, 48, was arrested this morning at his home on six felony counts of insurance fraud and creating false documents.

Naber’s arrest was in relation to a $1 million auto insurance fraud ring run by Hamid Taghizadeh, a Sherman Oaks attorney now in custody and facing 86 felony counts that include filing false and fraudulent claims, receiving or offering compensation for referrals, insurance fraud, grand theft of personal property and failure to file income tax returns.

L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Greg Alker said that Naber is one of five suspects involved in the ring, which came to California Department of Insurance investigators more than four years ago with a cryptic ledger seized by a CHP officer.

Alker credits CHP Sgt. Tannon Brown with cracking the code on the ledger, which contained records of “capping” payments given to other suspects.

“Capping involves a payment made by a lawyer or law firm to someone who has not been licensed as a referral agency,” Alker explained. “When people get paid by a lawyer for sending a client to them, that’s illegal.”

Naber faces a number of potential penalties, according to Alker. If convicted of the six felony counts, he could have his license suspended and serve up to six years in state prison.

Others named in the complaint included chiropractor Yousef Rushdi Helo of Simi Valley who faces nine felony counts; Jose Miguel Ayala of Van Nuys who is charged with 83 felony counts; Claudia Belen Cota of Sylmar, charged with 53 felony counts and Zekrollah Taghizadeh of North Hills, brother of the ringleader, who allegedly helped run the insurance fraud scam.

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