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Worker’s Compensation Doctor Pleads Guilty to Billing Fraud

Former worker’s compensation doctor Gil Tepper pleads guilty to felony charges of billing fraud.

On February 13, Gil Tepper was convicted on two felony charges of selling over-priced products from the medical supply company he has been working for, Miracle Mile Medical Center.

For the past several years Tepper has been overbilling insurance companies for medical supplies provided by Miracle Mile Medical Center, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office reports. Between March 2006 and May 2014, Tepper inflated prices on products sold by his practice as well as supplies from another medical supply company, Metalink Distributors Inc., which is owned by Tepper.

Tepper has been ordered by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jose I. Sandoval to pay more than $1.7 million in restitution to at least nine separate insurance companies that he overbilled. $1.1 million will be paid from Tepper’s frozen accounts and the rest he is required to pay before January 20, 2020, when his sentencing is scheduled to occur.

In addition to paying restitution Tepper is also sentenced to 300 hours of community service and six months of electronic monitoring. Failure to comply with the terms of his sentencing could result in Tepper serving a maximum of six years in state prison.

Tepper’s co-defendant, Jorge Antonio Vital, has also been charged with the following felonies: eight counts of worker’s compensation fraud, one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime, and attempted perjury under oath.

Tepper’s guilty plea was submitted on February 6 and finalized February 13. He has since been permanently barred from being a worker’s compensation provider and working with any physician-owned medical supply distribution company.