Woman sentenced in largest fraud plot

A Costa Mesa woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for her part in the largest medical insurance fraud scheme the country has seen.

Sue Nanda, 41, pleaded guilty to 22 felony counts of conspiracy earlier this year for helping doctors and attorneys defraud California out of $154 million in insurance claims.

Nanda was a “capper” for Unity Outpatient Surgery Center in Orange County, meaning she helped persuade patients to receive unnecessary surgical procedures so doctors could file claims with insurance companies and get paid.

She recruited more than 170 patients from 16 states for unnecessary procedures, some of them extremely risky.

The recruited patients were paid between $300 and $1,000 for the surgeries or offered elective surgeries in exchange. Nanda helped patients fill out paperwork and sign affidavits claiming they were not compensated for the surgeries.

She was paid directly from doctors and others involved in the scheme or through a corporation she had set up. She is scheduled to be back in court Dec. 4 for a hearing on how much she will pay in financial penalties, or restitution.

Nanda was one of 19 defendants charged in the plot. Two doctors have already pleaded guilty, and six others pleaded guilty before the grand jury came out with its indictment last year.

The remaining 11 defendants are scheduled for trial in October.

— Joseph Serna