Federal prosecutors have charged 21 people — including six Twin Cities chiropractors — in connection with a series of parallel fraud schemes that allegedly bilked insurance companies out of more than $20 million over the past five years.
The chiropractors are accused of systematically paying recruiters, or "runners," to identify victims of car accidents or people willing to claim that they were in a collision. They then submitted insurance claims and received reimbursements for services that were either not medically needed or were never rendered, according to the charges.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, who announced the charges in Minneapolis Wednesday afternoon, said the alleged schemes were nearly identical, even though executed by different chiropractors.
Wednesday's arrests and initial court appearances, he said, represented the first of several phases in taking down "many more" swindlers who seek to take advantage of Minnesota's no-fault auto insurance law. The law guarantees at least $20,000 in medical coverage for policyholders regardless of fault in an accident.
"For the defendants charged in this scheme, what mattered was the ability to get that $20,000, not the patient's need for medical services," Luger said.
The charges were spread across four indictments and two felony information filings, and covered conspiracies that allegedly ran from 2010 to 2015.
The chiropractors charged are Preston E. Forthun, Angela A. Schulz, Huy Ngoc Nguyen, Adam J. Burke, Marlyn C. Comes and Darryl M. Hummeny. Comes and Hummeny were charged by felony information, which typically signals that a plea agreement will soon follow.
Minnesota is one of nine states that require auto insurance policies to include personal injury protection, which carries a minimum coverage amount of $20,000 to pay medical expenses required after automobile accidents, regardless of who was at fault.
