BEVERLY HILLS─Randy Rosen, 57, a Beverly Hills Surgeon, and his girlfriend Liza Visamanos, 41, were charged in $52 million insurance fraud on Friday, July 3. The couple hired four body brokers to find and ask patients at Southern California sober living homes to undergo unnecessary surgeries, medical testings, and other procedures as a way to make money out of insurance companies.
Rosen was charged with 88 felony counts in two separate cases which reportedly involved recruiting and hiring numerous body brokers to find and pay patients to have medically unnecessary Naltrexone implant surgeries and cortisone shots. If convicted on all counts, he will face a maximum of 84 years and eight months in state prison.
Visamanos was charged with 56 felony counts in two separate cases in connection with the scheme. If convicted on all counts, she will face a maximum of 36 years and four months in state prison.
The companies they defrauded were billed about $600 million dollars and paid out about $50 million dollars for all the medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures without noticing those were just elaborate fraud schemes.
Rosen was also accused of sending patients to Lotus Laboratories, which is owned by Visamanos, for testing. His actions directly violated the law as California law prohibits referrals where “the physician or his immediate family has a financial interest with the person or entity receiving the referral.” It was reported that at least 22 different insurance companies were billed more than $3 million by Lotus Laboratories.
On Thursday, July 2, Rosen’s bail was reduced to $15 million in one case and $1 million in the other case. Visamanos’ bail was reduced to $3 million in one case and $100,000 for the second case. They will be monitored by GPS and also have to surrender their passports.
Four body brokers including Robert Mellon, 52, of San Diego, Thomas Douglas, 29, of Playa del Rey, Shea Simmons, 28, of Jeanerette, Louisiana, and Patrick Connolly, 28, of Los Angeles, also faced felony charges as they were involved in the fraud.
“Vulnerable sober living patients who were trying desperately to battle their addictions were treated like human guinea pigs just to make a buck,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “I refuse to allow these body brokers to exploit and traffic human beings as part of a sick and twisted plot to line their own pockets. This prosecution is a testament to the dedicated work of our prosecutors and our Bureau of Investigation to hold these real-life Frankensteins accountable.”
