The back of the house was hanging out far over the edge of the lapping waves; the cliff rose up to the front door on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. The ample balcony above the rocks and boulders was supported by 2” by 4” boards in a design holding the house suspended above them. ... Read More
Sim Hoffman, M.D. How he won his case. His hearing rep and collector, Louis Santillan, brought about his own downfall.
Sim Hoffman, M.D., a radiologist in Brea, California, was seeing workers’ compensation patients. He had a multi-specialty practice. After difficulty in collecting his fees, he hired Louis Santillan, a collector with some experience, soon after the year 2000. But by 2006, it was reported to Dr. Hoffman by his office manager that Santillan was stealing... Read More
When the fraud report comes from within. It was Louis Santillan, Dr. Sim Hoffman’s collector, who reported Hoffman for claims fraud to the Department of Insurance and the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
It wasn’t a case that primarily came out of a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) at an insurance carrier or a third-party administrator (TPA). It wasn’t like that, for example, where a workers’ compensation adjuster came to a company investigator and said, “Look at this claim,” and that carried the day with more claims streaming forward... Read More
Trying to catch the big fish, they let the small ones get away. But Sim Hoffman, M.D. with Louis Santillan and Beverly Mitchell all wound up getting away. Then, applicants’ attorney Jon Woods didn’t.
It was the end of December 2013 when this writer was informed by a message that all of the 884 counts in the Indictment against Sim Hoffman, M.D. by the Orange County District Attorney were dismissed by Superior Court Judge William Froeberg. That was every single count in the entire Indictment that was now gone... Read More
Jon Woods and Mark Ridley-Thomas. Both have many people protesting their verdicts. Sim Hoffman is another story.
Mark Ridley-Thomas’ guilty verdict in Los Angeles in March 2023 was like Jon Woods’ guilty verdict in Santa Ana in August 2022. Both were for fraud and bribery. Ridley-Thomas was a highly successful and popular Los Angeles politician, and a recent City Councilman; and Woods was a veteran workers’ compensation applicants’ attorney. Both defendants had... Read More
3D MRIs. Were they really not done? Dr. Hoffman said he’d bring in the software.
From the very beginning of the Sim Hoffman, M.D. workers’ compensation claims fraud case in Orange County, one of the district attorney’s theories and claims was that Dr. Hoffman charged large fees to the claims payers for 3-D MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Images) that were never done. There was testimony from Beverly Mitchell, Dr. Hoffman’s office... Read More
Did He Know? The 2022 trials of Jon Woods and Sim Hoffman; two workers’ compensation claims fraud cases with different endings.
It was a significant shock when all 884 counts were dismissed against Sim Hoffman, M.D. on a successful 995 motion by the defense in December of 2013. The Indictment came down in May of 2011 with the huge number of 884 counts charged against Hoffman for workers’ compensation billing fraud by the Orange County District... Read More
Sim Hoffman, M.D. and Jon Woods, Esq. Workers’ compensation claims fraud cases as studies in contrasts. (2)
In 2018, I received a letter through the U.S. Postal Mail system from what seemed like a small group of persons associated with Dr. Sim Hoffman. It was in a usual size 10 business envelope. It had a return address of a commercial building in Orange, California, but with no suite number. The letter read... Read More
