Chiropractor Pleads No Contest in Plot to Bilk Insurance Firms

A Chatsworth chiropractor pleaded no contest to a count of insurance fraud involving a scheme that cheated insurance companies out of $9 million over a nearly three-year period, a prosecutor said Friday.

John Chartouni, 48, who had offices in Glendale and Northridge, was accused of falsifying 1,200 medical reports and bills used to defraud the companies, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Kim said. Chartouni, whose sentencing has been set for April 25, has agreed to serve three years in prison and pay $200,000 in restitution to the victims.

“He basically generated a lot of fake medical reports and bills, which in turn were used to file insurance claims,” Kim said.

Two other defendants, Zvart Der-Avenessian and Gina Cook Ruiz, were previously convicted of insurance fraud for their roles in the scheme. They falsified medical reports in order to reap the maximum benefits from the insurance carriers, Kim said.

Ruiz, who worked at Chartouni’s office, was sentenced to 30 days in County Jail and placed on three years’ probation. Der-Avenessian, a 34-year-old legal assistant from Burbank, is scheduled to be sentenced April 26 to a six-month jail term and five years’ probation.

The California Highway Patrol launched an investigation last spring after receiving information that fraudulent insurance claims were being processed by a local law office. Chartouni’s office was subsequently infiltrated by undercover officers from the CHP and the Glendale Police Department, who taped incriminating conversations, Kim said.

“These are serious allegations involving a lot of money,” Kim said. “Unlike street crimes, they don’t get much publicity but they affect everybody.”

Criminals steal an estimated $1 billion a year through insurance fraud, Kim said.