California Chiropractor Sentenced to 54 Years for $150M Workers’ Comp Scheme

A former chiropractor was sentenced to 54 years in state prison and ordered to pay more than $23 million in fines for his role in orchestrating a massive workers’ compensation fraud scheme totaling $150 million.

Peyman Heidary was convicted by a Riverside County jury in January 2024 of 68 counts of insurance fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and other charges.

Between 2009 and 2014, Heidary reportedly controlled several sham law firms and a network of sham health clinics. An investigation over several years by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the California Department of Insurance revealed Heidary exaggerated patient injuries and ordered his employees to provide unnecessary treatments, resulting in inflated billings to insurance companies.

Heidary used the law firm to recruit thousands of legitimately injured patients, referring them to his network of clinics to create unnecessary billing.

Although originally charged with $98 million in fraud, evidence presented at trial, including Heidary’s testimony, revealed that the actual damage was about $150 million. During the sentencing hearing on April 12, Judge Charles Koosed noted that Heidary possessed deep knowledge of the workers’ comp system, stating, Heidary “took advantage of that knowledge based on greed.”

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys W. Matthew Murray and Erika Mulhere.