In a major California workers’ comp insurance case, authorities have charged an Orange County man who was twice convicted of fraud, along with a San Diego neurosurgeon and two others, in connection with allegedly billing nearly $100 million in fraudulent fees.

Following a three-year investigation, the Orange County district attorney’s office said on Friday that David Fish, 55, of Laguna Niguel allegedly masterminded an extensive scheme “to control clinics and providers who would see patients, refer them to specific providers in order to receive illegal referral payments, and then unlawfully bill workers’ compensation insurance companies for these services.”

Workers’ comp fraud is estimated to be a $30-billion annual problem in the U.S., and California employers have long complained about the high cost of insurance premiums to cover employees from work-related injuries. One common scheme at so-called medical mills involves steering workers to seek medical treatment from specific doctors.

“At a time when families across America are struggling to keep up with increasing prices for everything from gas and rent to just being able to put food on the table for their families, criminals like these only increase the cost of insurance premiums and put the American dream just that much further out of reach for so many hardworking people,” said Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer.

Benjamin N. Gluck, Fish’s attorney in Los Angeles, said the charges are unfounded.

“The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has a history of filing similar cases only to have them collapse under scrutiny,” Gluck said. “We think this case will be just one more in that line.”

Spitzer’s office Friday also named two co-conspirators — Martin Brill, 78 of Los Angeles and Robert Lee, 61 of Rancho Mirage — alleging that they formed a firm, Southern California Injured Workers, that offered medical management services, including marketing, billing and collections. The company, in fact, was controlled entirely by Fish, authorities said.

The three co-defendants, along with San Diego neurosurgeon Dr. Vrijesh Tantuwaya, also created a medical group called Injured Workers Medical Group, which was the main client for Southern California Injured Workers. Tantuwaya was designated as the owner and CEO of this medical professional corporation, Spitzer’s office said.

The four men have been charged with 13 separate felony counts, including violations related to referral of clients for pay, conspiracy to commit a crime and insurance fraud.

Scott A. Simmons, an Irvine-based attorney for Tantuwaya, said in a statement that his client “maintains his complete innocence and is confident that the evidence will demonstrate his lack of involvement in any illegal activities.”

“Dr. Tantuwaya is a respected and highly skilled neurosurgeon, with a 22-year unblemished career,” Simmons said. “The records will show that Dr. Tantuwaya did not receive a single penny in kickbacks. It will become clear that he was a victim of fraud himself and, in fact, has filed a civil lawsuit against Southern California Injured Workers.”

Attorneys for Brill and Lee could not immediately be reached for comment.

Simmons said that his client, Tantuwaya, and the other three men have all pleaded not guilty and been released on bail.

If convicted, Fish faces a maximum sentence of 18 years and four months in prison; Brill, a maximum of 12 years and four months in prison; Tantuwaya, 13 years, four months in state prison; and Lee, 12 years and four months in prison.

According to the O.C. district attorney’s office, Fish was convicted twice before for workers’ comp fraud. That included a conviction in 2010 for compensation or inducement for referral of clients who went to preferred medical providers to run up high bills.

In December 2017, Fish was barred from participating in the state’s workers’ comp system by California’s Department of Industrial Relations.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and several other state attorneys general filed a coordinated blitz of lawsuits Tuesday against TikTok, alleging the popular social media app is exploiting young users, violating state consumer protection laws and misleading the public.

A coalition of 14 attorneys general, led by Bonta and New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, filed separate enforcement actions against the Chinese-owned app that serves as a platform for influencers and internet celebrities.

At a news conference, Bonta outlined several features of the app that state regulators say harm the mental health of young people, including beauty filters, infinite scrolling, push notifications and likes.

“They have built a business model centered on exploiting young people’s time, attention and well-being,” Bonta said.

TikTok has 16 million users in California and an outsize presence in Los Angeles, where the company has a large office and many content creators live and work to make money off the app.

The California lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, accuses TikTok of violating the state’s Unfair Competition Law and the False Advertising Law. It seeks significant penalties and injunctive and monetary relief to address the app’s alleged misconduct.

“Our investigation has revealed that TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits,” Bonta said. “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”

A TikTok spokesperson said it provides “robust safeguards” for its users and denies the lawsuit’s allegations.

“We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens, and we will continue to update and improve our product,” spokesperson Michael Hughes said.

Despite efforts by the company to limit the amount of time teens spend on TikTok, Bonta said the safety features are “empty gestures at best.” For example, TikTok allows teens to limit their time on the app for 60 minutes, but the users are given a password to bypass the restrictions.

“They have been more worried about the perception that they are doing something to ensure the safety of young people than actually doing something to protect the safety of young people,” he said.

Bonta, who said he’s a father to three young people who use TikTok, said he’s not only worried but also “fed up” with the platform. While he acknowledged social media platforms have benefits such as connecting people and creating jobs, they also have pitfalls that regulators are trying to mitigate, he said.

“There are parents throughout the state and this nation who are rightfully worried about their children’s mental health, their safety, their well-being, because of the use of social media and its ubiquity,” he said.

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 63% of Americans ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, and 17% of American teens said they were on the app “almost constantly.”

The lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal hurdles that TikTok and other social media apps have faced from federal and state regulators. In August, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission sued TikTok, alleging the company violated a federal law that safeguards the privacy of children. The agencies accused the social media giant of collecting personal information from children without notifying their parents.

The FTC released a 129-page report in September that analyzed how TikTok, YouTube and other popular social media apps failed to protect young people and user privacy. Bonta’s office started investigating TikTok’s potential harms to young people in 2022 and filed a similar lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, last year.

TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, has also grappled with national security concerns, and U.S. lawmakers have raised bipartisan concerns about the Chinese government’s connection to the company. Last year, TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress in a marathon hearing in which lawmakers grilled the executive about teen safety, misinformation and other concerns they had about the social media platform.

Those worries culminated in April when President Biden signed a law that would ban the app in the United States unless it’s sold to an American company by mid-January. TikTok has sued to block the law, alleging it would run afoul of the free speech rights protected under the 1st Amendment.

Bronny James thinks they’re “pretty nice.”

Max Christie says they’re “super cool.”

D’Angelo Russell declared them his “favorite.”

The Lakers revealed their 2024-2025 City Edition uniforms Tuesday, with a video that features several players — the ones mentioned above, as well as LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves — sporting the new duds and reacting to them.

“Definitely a representation of the Lakers and the city, that’s for sure,” LeBron James said of the new uniforms in the video.

Dubbed the “California Destiny” uniform, it is one of at least four styles the Lakers will wear on the court this season.

Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell says the team’s City Edition uniforms “might be my favorite.”

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“This might be my favorite,” Russell said. “I’m not even gonna lie to you.”

The jersey features several firsts for a team uniform, with the words “Lake Show” replacing “Lakers” across the chest and a color progression that starts as black at the top and transforms into purple farther down.

There are nods to the past as well, including jersey numbers that mimic the style used from 1999 to 2017 and an emblem along the waistband that resembles one of the championship banners that hang from the Crypto.com Arena rafters.

The Lakers also unveiled the City Edition court it will use when the players are wearing the jerseys. It features the gradient color effect along the perimeter, a large LA logo at midcourt, the words “Lake Show” at each baseline and solid black free-throw lanes.

“Daaaang,” Bronny James said in the video. “The black is tough.”

The Lakers released a rendering of how the City Edition court will look at Crypto.com Arena this season.

(Lakers)

His dad added of the new court: “That’s pretty dope right there, baby.”

The City Edition jerseys will be available for purchase Nov. 14 at the team’s online store and in person at the Team LA store at Crypto.com Arena or the Lakers Team Shop in El Segundo. The Lakers will wear them on court for the first time during a Nov. 21 home game against the Orlando Magic.