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A county in Southern California has filed multiple felony charges against ten applicants’ attorneys who represent alleged injured workers in workers’ compensation cases. Orange County District Attorney, Tony Rackauckas, held a News Conference at 11:30 am Monday, June 5^th 2017, in the OCDA library in Santa Ana to announce the charges against the applicant lawyers as well as against six marketers.

The two marketing business owners are Carlos Arguello III, 35 years old, of Tustin, California and his partner Edgar Gonzalez, 50 years old, of Anaheim, California.  Arguello faces a maximum sentence of 29 years and eight months in state prison and Gonzalez faces a maximum sentence of 20 years and eight months in state prison.  Edgar Gonzalez is already represented by the “alpha wolf” of fraudster defense attorneys, Benjamin Gluck, of the law firm Bird Marella in Century City. 

Gluck wrote to this writer with his usual and customary wit on Tuesday, June 6^th, “We snuck in to court this morning and posted bond already.  Sorry to miss the photo opportunity…”

Arguello and Gonzalez aggressively sought out mostly non-English speaking Mexican monolingual Spanish speakers.  They produced business cards, flyers, and print and Internet advertisements in Spanish language publications.  They placed the flyers on car windshields, in mailboxes of businesses and residences, and distributed them all the way down to the California-Mexico border.  They located their Call Center in El Salvador.  A second one was in Tijuana. The operators answering the toll free number in El Salvador persuaded callers to sign up with their lawyers.

Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff at the OCDA, left, in red jacket, points something out to Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney of Orange County, center, at the beginning of the News Conference near the Noon hour on Monday, June 5th in the OCDA library. Tony estimated that the Workers' Compensation fraud perpetrated by the 10 applicants attorneys using cappers led by Carlos Arguello and Edgar Gonzalez cost insurance carriers around $300,000,000.  photo by Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved 

The sign-up agents then hurried to callers’ houses within a couple of days and with high pressure sales techniques and got them to sign retainer agreements and blank forms without even seeing an actual lawyer. Then these mostly Mexican, mostly Spanish-language-only clients were distributed to the marketers’ lawyer clients, who had already signed a contract for so much money in exchange for so many clients. The OCDA stated 33,000 patient-clients were signed up. 

Paying for clients by attorneys is illegal according to multiple statutes, but these applicant attorneys disguised the payments as “marketing expenses” and “advertising”.

The applicant attorneys charged:

• Jon Woods, age 56, Cypress, State Bar #181388
• Payman Zargari, age 49, Sherman Oaks, State Bar #208451
• John Jansen, age 49, Santa Ana, State Bar #182405
• Fari Rezai, age 39, Irvine, State Bar #139149
• Lionel Eduardo Giron, age 49, Pomona, State Bar #200450
• Dennis Ralph Fusi, age 73, Lakewood, State Bar 70905
• Jorge Humberto Reyes, age 39, Los Angeles, State Bar #232350
• Rony M. Barsoum, age 43, Los Angeles, State Bar #231843
• Robert Irving Slater, age 67, Encino, State Bar #67572
• Robin Jacobs, age 52, Sherman Oaks, State Bar #167089

The written News Release on this case from the OCDA dated June 5^th 2017 states that these filings of charges are the first phase from a 3-year-insurance fraud investigation by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation, Insurance Fraud Unit with assistance from the California Department of Insurance.  In his oral answer to a reporter’s question at the News Conference Monday, Rackauckas stated the investigation had been going on for four years, not three.

Tony Rackauckas listens to a question from a reporter with Captain Joe Chavez, from the California Department of Insurance behind him on his right, and Captain Victoria Martinez, also from the Department of Insurance on his left.  photo by Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved 

But outside the confines of the OCDA, these applicants’ attorneys and their cappers have been under investigation for over a decade by insurance carriers and then the Los Angeles District Attorney.  In 2011, search warrants were signed by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and raids were made upon the offices of Dennis Fusi and Fari Rezai, for certain.  The warrants were sealed but informants told this writer at that time that illegal referral investigations were being investigated between certain applicants’ attorneys and notorious fraud doctor and rapacious spinal surgeon, Munir Uwaydah. 

It was speculated by this writer’s informants, but not fully confirmed, that other offices besides those of Dennis Fusi and Fari Rezai were searched, possibly: Perona, Langer, Beck, Serven and Mendoza; Lionel Giron; Keith Nelson; Barry Appel; Hinden & Breslavsky; and Robin Jacobs. 

John Mendoza, the last partner in the name Perona, Langer, Beck, Serven and Mendoza, called this writer by phone, and threatened to file a law suit of libel and slander.  When told that I was not going to change my reporting based upon his threats, he said, “Guess you’ll have to learn the hard way.” 

It was right out of a movie with Al Pacino cast as the mobster.  John Mendoza spoke like a classic Mafia thug.  It’s modern-day organized crime with “legal thugs” who threaten law suits rather than the bashing of knee caps.

Captain Joe Chavez, above facing, of the California Department of Insurance, is bilingual Spanish-English.  He was chosen by the Department of Insurance to interact with the Spanish speaking community.  Above on June 5th 2017, Joe interacts with an NBC Spanish language station cameraman. photo by Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved

Another phone call came to this writer from Robin Jacobs.  She had a representative call, and when I answered, demanded that I hold the line while he went to get someone.  I found it offensive that I was called and put on hold, so I hung up.  Then Robin called back and when I picked up the line began hurling vitriolic accusations.  I hung up again.   As a result of this abuse, among a few other reasons, I no longer list my phone number on my publication.  I require a prior email correspondence before offering my phone numbers to anyone.

Four of the same names are in this Orange County DA filing of charges as were reported as under investigation by the Los Angeles DA in 2011.  They are Dennis Fusi, Robin Jacobs, Lionel Giron, and Fari Rezai.   Thus, this begs the question, why did the Los Angeles District Attorney not file charges?  What happened?  Why was the ball dropped?   Was the ball dropped?

It’s a fair question: why so long?  And another question is why it wound up with the Orange County District Attorney.

One of the bullet points given in the News Release of Monday, June 5^th stated that the OCDA received a tip from a major insurance carrier in 2014.   If the major insurance carrier was Zenith Insurance, which it likely was, it was hardly just a “tip”.  It was more likely a tidal wave of bombastic information from aggressive investigators demanding action.  Zenith has been the most prominent advocate against claims fraud since the former days of its cantankerous owner Stanley Zax.

Teena Barton, right, Senior SIU Investigator from ICW Group, watches the show about the charges filed against 16 fraudsters at the News Conference in the Orange County District Attorney's library around the Noon hour on Monday, June 5th '17.  photo by Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved 

An informant who required an off-the-record communication of names stated that Zenith Insurance’s special investigations unit investigators were there at the News Conference but not willing to go on the record with a reporter. Investigators who were willing to present themselves were Teena Barton, Senior SIU Investigator, of Insurance Company of the West (ICW Group) and Michael Bender, the AVP and National Director of SIU at ICW Group. 

Michael Bender, left, AVP and National Director of SIU at ICW Group, attended the News Conference in the Orange County District Attorney's library on Monday, June 5th in the late morning. Photo by Lonce LaMon, all rights reserved. 

Tony Rackauckas threw out a number of $300,000,000 in estimated losses to the insurance carriers as a result of this organized crime ring.  “We’re considering that the victim is the insurance company,” he told a reporter who questioned the role of the recruited clients in the whole scheme.  “It’s the ring that’s causing all this to happen,”  Raukauckas clarified. 

Orange County Register article, June 5th 2017 late afternoon, 10 Attorneys, 6 Others Charged By OC District Attorney's Office In What It Calls A Massive Workers' Comp Scheme. 

Orange County District Attorney's office News Release dated June 5th 2017.

adjustercom May 26th 2011 article: L.A. County DA's Office Raids Applicants' Attorney Dennis Fusi's Office.  And Others...

adjustercom June 2nd 2011 article: List Of Firms Raided By Search Warrants Last Week Sealed By Court

Attorney Capping Scheme, Filing Phase 1, from the Orange County District Attorney's Office, June 5th 2017 

lonce@adjustercom.com, Lonce LaMon, journalist; copyright Lonce LaMon and adjustercom, all rights reserved. 

This article was updated on June 9th 2017, in the late afternoon, to include the documents and articles referenced by link at the bottom.