Beverly Hills radiologist convicted and sentenced to 10 years in Operation Backlash workers' comp scheme
Ronald Grusd, a Beverly Hills radiologist, owned California Imaging Network Medical Group and Willows Consulting Company, which paid kickbacks to clinics across San Diego and Imperial counties in exchange for referring workers' compensation patients. The clinics then referred those patients for MRIs, ultrasounds, Shockwave treatments, toxicology testing and prescription pain medication, which Grusd's companies billed to insurers without disclosing the kickback arrangement, as required under California law. Trial evidence showed more than $100,000 in bribes paid out, calculated per patient or per body part, behind more than $25 million in fraudulent billings. Grusd and his companies were indicted in November 2015 as part of "Operation Backlash," a joint investigation by the US Attorney's Office, the San Diego District Attorney's Office, the FBI and the California Department of Insurance that has since charged nearly 40 individuals and companies. A federal jury convicted Grusd in December 2017 on 39 felony fraud counts after a trial. In June 2018, US District Judge Cynthia Bashant sentenced him to 10 years in federal custody and a $250,000 fine, and fined each of his two companies $500,000. At sentencing, Bashant said the kickback incentives made it "highly questionable if all services were necessary."
- Year
- 2018
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $25.0 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Workers' comp kickback fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-26
The facts, as recorded
- Ronald Grusd owned California Imaging Network Medical Group and Willows Consulting Company, which paid kickbacks to clinics in San Diego and Imperial counties for referring workers' compensation patients.
- The referred patients were sent for MRIs, ultrasounds, Shockwave treatments, toxicology testing and prescription pain medication, billed to insurers without disclosing the kickback arrangement.
- Trial evidence showed more than $100,000 in bribes paid, calculated per patient or per body part, behind more than $25 million in fraudulent billings.
- Grusd and administrator Gonzalo Paredes were indicted in November 2015 as part of 'Operation Backlash,' a joint investigation by the US Attorney's Office, the San Diego District Attorney's Office, the FBI and the California Department of Insurance, which has charged nearly 40 individuals and companies.
- A federal jury convicted Grusd in December 2017 on 39 felony fraud counts after a seven-day trial; jurors could not reach a verdict on administrator Gonzalo Paredes, whose case was set for retrial.
- In June 2018, US District Judge Cynthia Bashant sentenced Grusd to 10 years in federal custody and a $250,000 fine, and fined each of his two companies $500,000 plus a $15,600 special assessment.
- Bashant said the referral incentives put pressure on physicians and made it 'highly questionable if all services were necessary.'
- US Attorney Adam Braverman said at the time, 'a doctor's medical decisions should be based on the best interest of the patient, not the highest bidder.'
Why this case matters
Pacific Hospital of Long Beach paid kickbacks to get patients into spinal surgery; Grusd’s companies paid kickbacks to get patients into imaging, injections and pain medication instead, showing the same corrupted-referral structure works across very different kinds of treatment, not just major surgery.
A jury, not a plea
Unlike several cases in this scheme, Grusd did not plead guilty. A federal jury convicted him on all 39 counts after a seven-day trial, and the judge’s own words at sentencing, that the kickbacks made it “highly questionable if all services were necessary,” came from a court that had heard the evidence tested, not simply accepted a plea agreement.
One investigation, dozens of defendants
Grusd’s case was one piece of “Operation Backlash,” an investigation that by the time of his sentencing had already charged nearly 40 individuals and companies. His own administrator, Gonzalo Paredes, was tried alongside him but the jury could not reach a verdict, a reminder that even within one indictment, different defendants can end up with very different outcomes.
The caveat
Ronald Grusd was convicted by a federal jury in December 2017 and sentenced in June 2018; this is a completed criminal case, not an allegation. Gonzalo Paredes’s case, by contrast, ended in a deadlocked jury and a scheduled retrial, a different and less final outcome that this case file does not attribute to Grusd.
Sources
- Radiologist bilked $25 million from insurance companies, paid kickbacks to San Diego health clinics. Times of San Diego. Accessed 2026-10-26. Supports: The December 2017 conviction on 39 felony counts, the more than $25 million in fraudulent billings, the kickback payments to San Diego and Imperial county clinics, the services billed (MRIs, ultrasounds, Shockwave treatments, toxicology testing), the Operation Backlash investigation, the roughly 40 individuals and companies charged, Gonzalo Paredes's deadlocked jury, and US Attorney Adam Braverman's quote.
- Beverly Hills Doctor Sentenced to 10 Years in Workers' Comp Scam. Insurance Journal. Accessed 2026-10-26. Supports: The 10-year sentence, the $500,000 fine against each of Grusd's two companies, and the mechanism of paying bribes to physicians and others for workers' compensation patient referrals.
- South Bay Chiropractor Sentenced to 14 Months in Federal Prison for Receiving Kickbacks for Referring Patients for Spinal Surgeries. IRS Criminal Investigation. Accessed 2026-10-26. Supports: General context on how California workers' compensation kickback schemes were investigated and prosecuted in this period, corroborating the institutional pattern described in the Grusd case.