Studio City Chiropractor Charged In $2.5 Million Insurance Fraud

STUDIO CITY, CA — A Studio City chiropractor was charged Tuesday with leading a $2.5 million insurance fraud scheme involving a dozen chiropractors.

49-year-old Yury Chernega was charged with four felony counts each of insurance fraud and participating in patient referral rebates when licensed in the healing arts or as a chiropractor, along with one count of money laundering. He is also accused of taking over $500,000 from about 30 insurance companies through fraud and embezzlement.

In addition to Royzman and Chernega, the other defendants are:

• Edith Coronado-Grande (dob 5/8/64) of Glendora
• Lon Segal (dob 9/15/55) of Los Angeles
• Bruce Householder (dob 7/29/71) of Burbank
• Christine Elvine (dob 7/7/69) of Arcadia
• Luzan Madain (dob 4/13/75) of Canyon Country
• Payam Shayan (dob 8/28/69) of Tarzana
• Arash Noor (dob 5/14/80) of Los Angeles
• David Soloway (dob 2/28/70) of Brea
• Gilberto Gomez (dob 10/4/48) of Los Angeles
• Omid Okhowat (dob 10/5/69) of Los Angeles

“Defrauding insurance companies is a serious crime that costs all of us in the form of higher premiums,” County District Attorney Gascón said. “We will continue to work with local, state and federal regulators to protect consumers from financial crimes.”

From 2014 through 2019, Chernega referred new patients who had been in car accidents to other chiropractors in return for an illegal referral fee, prosecutors said. Court documents say Chernega netted about $2.5 million through the scheme.

Chernega and the other defendants are also accused of filing false claims for medical services they did not provide.

Arraignment is scheduled for June 29.