North Texas Doctor Gets 12 Years for Insurance Fraud

A North Texas chiropractor has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for billing health care providers for services that were never rendered.

Dr. Abbas Zahedi of Carrollton was sentenced in federal court and ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution. The 49-year-old Zahedi was convicted in June on charges that include five counts of health care fraud.

Federal prosecutors say another man referred his co-workers to Zahedi. The workers agreed to allow their insurance companies to be billed for services they didn’t receive, all in exchange for gifts and other kickbacks.

Prosecutors said in a release that five other defendants were previously sentenced for their roles in the scheme, which ran from 2009 to 2012. Most were ordered to pay restitution of at least $2 million.