ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY Tony Rackauckas speaks at press conference on Thursday (OCDA video).

A Huntington Beach physician is one of 26 medical health professionals and others named Thursday in what officials called a major fraudulent medical billing and kickback operation.

Dr. Ismael Silva, Jr, M.D., is facing one charge of conspiracy to commit medical insurance fraud, one count of making a false and fraudulent claim, four counts of providing rebates for patient referrals and four of referring patients for compensation.

He will be arraigned on May 30 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas at a press conference announced their efforts against the estimated $40 million scheme.

Tanya Moreland King, 37, and her husband Christopher King, 38, both of Beverly Hills, own medical billing and medical management companies Monarch Medical Group, Inc, King Medical Management, Inc. and One Source Laboratories, Inc. The defendants are accused of masterminding a complex insurance fraud scheme of recruiting doctors and pharmacists to prescribe unnecessary treatment for workers’ compensation insurance patients.

Irvine pharmacists Charles Bonner, RPh., 56, and Mervyn Miller, RPh., 66, owners of Steven’s Pharmacy in Costa Mesa, are accused of conspiring with Christopher and Tanya King by selling more than $1 million in compound creams that were not FDA approved nor have known medical benefits.

“The Kings and their co-conspirators played with patients’ lives, buying and selling them for profit without regard to patient safety,” said Commissioner Dave Jones. “Patients have the right to expect treatment decisions by health care professionals are based on medical need and not unadulterated greed. The magnitude of this alleged crime is an affront to ethical medical professionals.”

“The Orange County District Attorney’s Office will continue to be a leader in the state in prosecuting these types of crimes, because they affect the health of our economy and wellness of our bodies,” stated OCDA Rackauckas. “In order for the system to survive, we must have ethical doctors who abide by their Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm.’ The intent of many of the laws surrounding the insurance industry is to keep the three Ps – Physician – Patients – and Profit separate. We have a track record of putting these type of fraudsters behind bars for a long time and we intend to do just that again,” Rackauckas concluded.