Chiropractor, 9 Others Facing Fraud Charges

A Newport Beach chiropractor is among 10 Southern California health professionals and law office administrators facing assorted charges of insurance fraud and tax evasion, a U.S. attorney said Wednesday.

Chiropractor Faramarz Khalili, 35, is charged with helping 27 lawyers defraud insurance companies and clients out of $224,000 over five years and giving kickbacks to those attorneys to conceal bogus claims, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel S. Linhardt.

Khalili also is charged with failing to report $448,000 in income over the same five-year period, authorities said.

Khalili and three other chiropractors, along with three doctors and three law office administrators, were charged Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, federal prosecutors said.

The defendants, who will be prosecuted in federal court in Sacramento, allegedly paid a total of $2.9 million in kickbacks to lawyers for referrals of phony medical-insurance claims, Linhardt said.

Seven of the men are also charged with failing to report a collective total of more than $3.3 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service.

The nine others charged are chiropractor Robert G. Blakely, 45, of San Diego; law office administrator Victorino Blancada, 51, of Bonita; physician Franklin H. Dulin, 51, of Escondido; physician Senador V. Fandino, 59, of San Diego; law office administrator Maynard H. Garber, 50, of Chatsworth; chiropractor James Inklebarger, 50, of San Diego; physician Aragunta K. Kumar, 46, of Hidden Hills; law office administrator Lorenzo Mamangon, 33, of Chatsworth, and chiropractor Tesfa M. Wossne, 64, of Bakersfield.