Newport Coast physician faces federal charges in healthcare fraud cases

An Orange County physician is facing federal charges for his alleged participation in a fraud scheme involving healthcare services that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic and allegedly resulted in false billings to federal programs and theft from federally funded pandemic programs, officials announced Thursday.

Dr. Anthony Hao Dinh, 63, of Newport Coast, allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for treatment of patients who were insured, billed for services that were not rendered, and billed for services that were not medically necessary, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He is scheduled to be arraigned in Santa Ana federal court on May 22. If convicted as charged, Dinh would face up to 50 years in federal prison, according to federal prosecutors.

“Dr. Dinh is alleged to have stolen from a taxpayer-funded program meant to provide COVID-related healthcare to uninsured patients,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.

“We will not tolerate stealing from the American people, and our prosecution of this large-scale scheme demonstrates our continued efforts to stop fraud of all sorts.”

Dinh is also charged with two others for allegedly submitting over 70 fraudulent loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and fraudulently obtaining over $3 million in loan funds, prosecutors said.

The other defendants named in the scheme are Dinh’s sister, Hang Trinh Dinh, 64, of Lake Forest, who is currently a fugitive being sought by federal authorities, and Matthew Hoang Ho, 65, of Melbourne, Fla.

Anthony Dinh is charged in the complaint with healthcare fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Hang Dinh and Matthew Ho are each charged with one count of wire fraud, according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Anthony Dinh was the second-highest biller in the country to the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program. The program was designed to prevent the further spread of the pandemic by providing access to uninsured patients for testing and treatment, and to provide financial support to healthcare providers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic by reimbursing them for services provided to uninsured individuals.

As a result of the scheme targeting the Uninsured Program, Anthony Dinh and his companies were paid more than $153 million, and he used fraud proceeds for high-risk options trading, losing over $100 million from November 2020 through February 2022, according to court documents.