Owner of California addiction treatment center accused of paying for patients in kickback scheme
The owner and operator of multiple addiction treatment centers in Orange County has been charged for an alleged kickback scheme in which he’s accused of paying individuals to bring him new patients so he could milk their insurance.
Scott Raffa, 57, of Newport Beach operated multiple treatment centers around Orange County, including Sober Partners Waterfront Recovery Center, Sober Partners Reef House and Sober Partners Beach House.
From April 2020 to October 2021, Raffa allegedly paid nearly $175,000 to “body brokers” who would refer new patients to his businesses so he could bill the patient’s insurance significantly more than he paid out.
According to the United States Department of Justice, these body brokers operated their own businesses and were paid thousands of dollars for each patient they referred to Raffa’s treatment centers.
Raffa is accused of drawing up fake contracts with some of those businesses that were specifically designed to conceal the true reason for certain payments. This was achieved by using language that stated they weren’t for “volume or value” of the patients, when they actually were.
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The DOJ alleges Raffa met in secret or communicated via encrypted messaging services to calculate and negotiate how much he would pay for patient referrals based on how much his facilities could charge that patient’s insurance.
He allegedly factored in that patient’s insurance provider and the duration of a patient’s treatment to come up with a payout amount for the brokers. The DOJ says he refused to pay kickbacks for any patients who received less than 21 days of treatment.
Raffa was indicted by a grand jury on April 10 and was arrested Saturday at LAX.
He appeared in the United States District Court in Santa Ana Monday and was charged with 12 criminal counts related to the alleged scheme.
If convicted on all charges, Raffa could face up to 10 years in federal prison for each count.
The case remains under investigation by the FBI.
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