News Releases

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that 12 chiropractors have been charged in a $2.5 million insurance fraud and illegal kickback scheme involving automobile collision medical claims.

“Defrauding insurance companies is a serious crime that costs all of us in the form of higher premiums,” District Attorney Gascón said. “We will continue to work with local, state and federal regulators to protect consumers from financial crimes.”

Case BA495596 charges the defendants with nine felony counts, including insurance fraud and participating in patient referral rebates when licensed in the healing arts or as a chiropractor. 

Arraignment for all but one defendant has been scheduled for June 29 in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Arraignment for defendant Alexander Royzman (dob 6/22/71) of Granada Hills is expected to take place the following week. 

The case was filed on June 1. 

The scheme’s alleged ringleader, Yury Chernega (dob 7/1/71) of Studio City, faces four counts each of the aforementioned charges as well as one count of money laundering. The charges include allegations of taking more than $500,000 from about 30 insurance companies through fraud and embezzlement.

In addition to Royzman and Chernega, the other defendants are: 

• Edith Coronado-Grande (dob 5/8/64) of Glendora
• Lon Segal (dob 9/15/55) of Los Angeles
• Bruce Householder (dob 7/29/71) of Burbank
• Christine Elvine (dob 7/7/69) of Arcadia
• Luzan Madain (dob 4/13/75) of Canyon Country
• Payam Shayan (dob 8/28/69) of Tarzana
• Arash Noor (dob 5/14/80) of Los Angeles
• David Soloway (dob 2/28/70) of Brea
• Gilberto Gomez (dob 10/4/48) of Los Angeles
• Omid Okhowat (dob 10/5/69) of Los Angeles

From 2014 through 2019, Chernega allegedly offered to refer new patients to other chiropractors in return for an illegal referral fee, through which he collected about $2.5 million, prosecutors said. The patients allegedly had been involved in automobile collisions. 

The defendants also are accused of filing false claims for medical services they never provided. The case stems from an ongoing case involving Chernega and 14 additional chiropractors filed in 2019. Case BA477147 alleges a total of $6 million in illegal referral fees. 

The case remains under investigation by the District Attorney’s Auto Insurance Fraud Division and Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the California Department of Insurance, the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.