What are Examples of Penal Code section 550 Insurance Fraud Violations?

Penal Code section 550 is an insurance fraud law that prohibits and makes criminal:

• Making false statements to obtain payment for an insurance claim.  
• Lawyers paying kickbacks to doctors who refer cases.
• Submitting bills for damage to a car that existed prior to the accident. 
• Fake car accidents
• Doctors sending bills for the same treatment multiple times.

Here are some legal cases where Penal Code section 550 was violated: :

People v. Zanoletti: The defendant was convicted under Section 550, subdivision (a)(1), for submitting fraudulent insurance claims. Paperwork generated at a medical clinic was deliberately inaccurate and was sent to a law office, which then submitted the paperwork to an insurance company in support of a fraudulent claim (People v. Zanoletti, 173 Cal.App.4th 547 (2009))

People v. Singh: The doctor was convicted of multiple counts of fraud, including staging accidents and filing false medical claims with insurers. Specific fraudulent activities included unnecessarily charging for diagnostic procedures, charging for missed appointments, and falsifying dates of treatment to receive maximum payments. (People v. Singh, 37 Cal.App.4th 1343 (1995))

People v. Banerjee: The defendant was charged with violating Section 550, subdivision (a)(6), by knowingly making or causing to be made false or fraudulent claims for payment of health care benefits. The evidence indicated that defendant billed a workers' compensation insurer substantially higher amounts through other legal entities than he previously billed for the same services (Banerjee v. Superior Court, 69 Cal.App.5th 1093 (2021))

People v. Pierce: The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and submitting multiple bills for the same service. They were also charged with making false statements to obtain payments for medical services provided to workers' compensation patients (People v. Pierce, 38 Cal.App.5th 321 (2019))[4].

People v. Meneses: The defendant was convicted of making false or fraudulent insurance claims by buying stolen police accident reports, contacting accident victims, referring them to attorneys and chiropractors, and encouraging them to inflate their insurance claims by receiving unnecessary medical treatment (People v. Meneses, 165 Cal.App.4th 1648 (2008))

People v. S.M.: The defendant was charged with presenting a false or fraudulent insurance claim, conspiring to present a false claim for damages to a motor vehicle, and making false statements in support of an insurance claim (People v. S.M., 9 Cal.App.5th 210 (2017))