Three arrested for surgery scheme

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Operators of a Los Angeles-area clinic paid thousands of people to undergo risky, unnecessary surgeries as part of a nationwide insurance fraud scheme, authorities said Wednesday.

Some 5,000 patients were recruited from across the country and flown to California, where they underwent surgeries that were billed at excessive amounts to their insurance companies, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.

The patients, who had insurance that did not require pre-approval, received $300 to $1,000 or credits toward cosmetic surgery for volunteering for sometimes complex procedures, Rackauckas said.

“These are healthy people, risking their good health going under general anesthesia and being prodded, probed and cut into for less than a thousand dollars,” he said.

The three operators of the Unity Outpatient Surgery Center in Buena Park were arrested Tuesday at their homes after a two-year investigation.

They were identified as Tam Vu Pham, 39, and his wife, Hoang Ngo, 38, of Fullerton, and Lan Nguyen, 48, of Huntington Beach.