Property Crimes

Published on: April 20, 2012

Alert Parents: Is Los Angeles Petty Theft a “Gateway Crime”?

If you are a parent of a teenager or young man or woman who was recently arrested on charges of Los Angeles petty theft crime, you are probably sad, depressed, and anxious about your child’s future.

What caring parent wouldn’t be?

The state of California considers both petty theft and shoplifting to be serious crimes. Individuals convicted on two separate occasions for petty theft can be actually slapped with a felony charge and compelled to spend over a year behind bars!

Published on: April 18, 2012

Will You Ever Practice Again After Your Los Angeles Medical Fraud Charges?

by Michael Kraut

The Obama Administration is “on the hunt” for doctors, chiropractors, dentists, and other providers who violate Los Angeles Medicare fraud laws.

If you or someone you care about recently got swept up into that dragnet – or if you have come under investigation – you are obviously panicked about your potential punishments:

• The lifestyle changes that you inevitably will have to make;

Published on: April 13, 2012

Life After Southern California Medicare Fraud – Start Planning Now

by Michael Kraut

If you are a physician who has recently been arrested for Los Angeles Medicare fraud due to double billing or overbilling — or as an accomplice to a larger and more sophisticated scheme that spanned several years — you’re probably terrified. How will the arrest (and potential conviction) impact your career, your freedom (jail time or not?), your finances, your relationships with the people closest to you, and your professional reputation (or what’s left of it)?

Odds are, in fact, that you are overwhelmingly focused on the potential negatives of the situation. In some ways, this makes sense. Now is a good time for reflection and sober strategic thinking, particularly if you did commit criminal activity. A Southern California Medicare or Medi-Cal fraud lawyer can help you devise and execute an intelligent response to the charges against you. And you should certainly introspect and analyze how you got into the situation in the first place. But you might also find it extremely resourceful to focus on potential positive outcomes.

The brain works in mysterious ways. Since the 1950s, neurologists have studied an activity center in the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). This is a region of our brain that helps to manage and process attention and focus. Obviously, the neurology of the RAS is too complicated for this blog to address, but the takeaway is pretty profound. Science suggests that how and when and where we hold our focus can color not only our perceptions of our experiences but also our strategies for dealing with crises.

Published on: April 2, 2012

What is Los Angeles Healthcare Fraud, Anyway, and What Should You Do If You Are Accused?

by Michael Kraut

With the Obama administration cracking down hard, nationwide, on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, analysts expect that many more doctors, chiropractors, and other caregivers in Los Angeles will be arrested and charged with Southern California healthcare fraud. If you or a family member has come under investigation for fraud, you need to act decisively, legally, and quickly to protect your rights and minimize the potential damage to your career, assets, and freedom.

Individuals convicted of Southern California healthcare billing fraud can be slapped with charges pursuant to Insurance Code Section 1871.4, Penal Code Section 550, Penal Code Section 118(for perjury), and Labor Code Section 3700 (if you’re an employer who committed healthcare fraud). Depending on the nature and extent of the alleged misconduct, you could lose your license to practice, face jail time and massive fines, and see the destruction of your professional reputation and your ability to earn in the future. Given what’s at stake, you probably want to know what might constitute this crime. Here are two examples:

1. Creating false medical records and billing insurance carriers or Medicaid or MediCal for services that you never rendered (or that you described in a very overinflated way).

Published on: March 26, 2012

Los Angeles Medicare Fraud: Coming to Terms with What You Have Done

by Michael Kraut

As someone who has recently been arrested for Los Angeles Medicare fraud (or insurance fraud, identity theft or another Southern California White Collar Crime), your life is in chaos right now. The arrest has terrified you, caused difficulties in your relationships, and perhaps even thrown your health out of whack. At some point within the next few weeks or months or years, you are going have to look in the mirror and try to come to terms with how you got into this position – being a Los Angeles white collar criminal defendant – and where you want to go from here with your life and your profession.

Looking objectively in the mirror is not easy for anyone in any circumstances. Introspection is a difficult skill, and it is a skill that we are generally not taught in school or elsewhere. Looking in the mirror objectively when we have committed something that society deems “wrong” or “awful” is even harder, especially if you have being living in a kind of self created delusion.

Also, most people simply don’t have empathy for defendants. They assume that the world is split into we versus them. “We” are the “good guys” who abide by the law and have a moral code. “Them” are the criminals who flout our society’s laws and have no moral code. As a defendant, you probably take a certain amount of umbrage to this stereotype – you have a strong moral code, despite the charges against you. Likely, you’ve justified your actions in some way. For instance, if you are a physician or a dentist who committed Medicare fraud, maybe you just got fed up with the crazy Medicaid reimbursement system – all the red tape and hassle. So you decided that “you were going to get yours” since the system had taken so much from you. Thus, you went down the not-so primrose path.

Published on: March 19, 2012

At Least Your Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Charges Aren’t As Bad As This Guy’s…

by Michael Kraut

If you, a spouse, or a close family member was recently arrested and charged with Medicare fraud in Los Angeles—or some other Southern California white-collar crime—you’re probably very frightened right now. You might fear the prospect of going to jail, losing your dental, medical, or chiropractic license, getting kicked out of a professional association, paying massive fines, and seeing your reputation and character besmirched. These are very legitimate concerns. Depending what you did or did not do, you can certainly suffer all those penalties—and more.

The federal government is getting extremely serious about cracking down on Medicare fraud. Three weeks ago, federal officials busted an alleged scam in Dallas, Texas. Observers are calling it the biggest case of Medicare fraud in US history. Allegedly, a 54-year old Dr. Jacques Roy masterminded a $375 million scam, by certifying Medicare reimbursement claims fraudulently and then keeping payments without providing services.

Prosecutors allege that Roy created a sophisticated “boiler room” to run his scam. He found homeless people to pose as patients and created thousands of fraudulent Medicare claims. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said that the Medicare Fraud Strike Force found that “Dr. Roy and his co-conspirators, for years, ran a well-oiled fraudulent enterprise . . . making millions by recruiting thousands of patients for unnecessary services and billing Medicare for those services.” During the six years of his scam, according to ABC News, “Dr. Roy . . . had more patients than any other medical practice in the United States.” The 13-count indictment is loaded with serious charges. If convicted, Dr. Roy faces life imprisonment.

Published on: March 5, 2012

Beverly Hills DUI 101: A Brilliant Example of How to Do Everything Wrong

by Michael Kraut

If you were recently stopped for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills – either at a checkpoint or on Santa Monica Boulevard or wherever – you probably feel pretty humiliated and frustrated. Perhaps you should be. But odds are that your stop was not nearly as embarrassing as what happened to 20-year old Bryan Gray of Aurora, Illinois last week. According to local Illinois police reports, Aurora pulled off a trifecta of bad driving behaviors. Surprise, surprise, these actions culminated in an injury accident. Police said that Gray had been doing the following dangerous acts – all in combination:

1. Speeding
2. Texting while driving
3. Driving under the influence of alcohol

To make matters worse, he drove early in the morning on Sunday – one of the more dangerous times to be out on the road. (so many drivers are coming back from bars and late night parties).

Anyway, guess what happened? While he texting his brother, Gray glanced up and noticed – way too late – that he was driving straight into a building. He couldn’t stop and instead slammed into a building on 3000 Weber Drive. Fortunately, Gray was not killed, nor was anyone else. But it’s easy to see how a situation like that could have led to a fatality or multiple serious injuries.

Illinois residents probably remember all too well the rather sickening story of police officer Matt Mitchell, who killed two teenage girls while travelling at over 100 miles per hour WHILE text messaging on his phone. Mitchell earned national headlines (and a lot of rage) when he turned around and sued the state for workers’ comp benefits for injuries he sustained in that crash (he was on duty at the time).

Your Los Angeles DUI attorney will need to go over every aspect of your case to determine what arguments prosecutors might make against you. Dangerous actions that you took – or safety precautions that you failed to take – can be used against you. For instance, had Gray not been speeding or driving under the influence, he still might have crashed into the building and hurt himself and other people. But because he allegedly engaged in all three dangerous activities at once, prosecutors have more “ammunition” against him.

To craft your most appropriate defense of the Beverly Hills DUI, you need to be very forthcoming with your Los Angeles DUI attorney – honest and open about what happened – and you have to anticipate and effectively counter argue the charges and evidence that the prosecution will throw against you.

Of course, understanding what the prosecution will do requires being able to put on a “prosecutor’s hat” and think like the other side will. Even experienced and adept attorneys who deal with cases like DUI in Beverly Hills are often unable to do this because they’ve never fought legal battles from the other side. Fortunately, you have an ally in attorney Michael Kraut. As the founder of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers in Beverly Hills (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935), Mr. Kraut actually served as a prosecutor for a long time – over 14 years. He uses this unique perspective and his insights into the prosecutor’s mindset to come up with efficient, compassionate, and successful strategies for his clients. Mr. Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated attorney, and he provides free and confidential case consultations.

Published on: February 20, 2012

Watch Out Would Be Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Perpetrators: Obama Administration Pulling Out All the Stops

by Michael Kraut

In 2008, the Federal Government recouped $2.14 billion from people who committed Southern California Medi-Cal fraud and other similar crimes across the nation. Last year, thanks to a dedicated effort inside the Obama Administration, the Federal Government recouped $4.1 billion — nearly double the 2008 amount. The number of people charged with fraud across the U.S. also bumped up 75% over the 2008 numbers.

Unsurprisingly, the Obama Administration has been celebrating. Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Service Secretary, blogged about the report: “The Obama Administration is doing more to stop fraud before it happens… Department of Justice officials are tracking fraud scams as they move across the country, so that criminals are spotted when they try to re-enroll into Medicare or Medicaid.”

Good news for tax payers – but what if you’ve been caught up in the dragnet and charged with Southern California Medicare fraud?

Published on: January 2, 2012

When Someone You Love and Care About Commits Los Angeles Medicare Fraud

by Michael Kraut

On this blog, we talk a lot about why doctors, chiropractors, dentists, and others commit Los Angeles Medicare fraud. What drives them, psychologically, socially, and societally?

We also talk about what these defendants should do, how to grapple with the situation, etc. But let’s take time to change perspective and consider the role of family members. If you are the spouse or child of someone charged with any Southern California white crime, such as credit card fraud, insurance fraud, identity theft, etc., you may feel mixed emotions about what’s going on.

• On the one hand, perhaps you are shocked by the news of the arrest or investigation – you had no idea.

Published on: December 12, 2011

Tempted to Commit Los Angeles Medicare Fraud by Our Anemic Economy?

by Michael Kraut

Most people who go to jail for crimes like Los Angeles Medicare or Medi-Cal fraud do not spend weeks or months ruminating over whether to skirt the law and ultimately decisively concluding to “lead a life of crime.”

That may be the way events play out on TV. But, in reality, the temptation to commit any Southern California white collar crime, like Los Angeles credit card fraud, insurance fraud in Los Angeles, etc is slowly and incrementally hatched.

In other words, there is no “a-ha!” moment – no epiphany where a doctor, chiropractor, dentist, or other professional makes an “evil villain” type speech and crosses over to the dark side.