Toronto rehab clinic ordered to pay $75,000 in fines in auto insurance fraud case

A Toronto clinic has been ordered to pay $75,000 in fines this week, after its principals pleaded guilty to engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the business of insurance related to auto insurance fraud, the Insurance Bureau of Canada reported Thursday.

North York Health and Rehabilitation Centre (located 1280 Finch Avenue West, Suite 519 in Toronto) was convicted as a result of investigations by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario related to a Toronto-area staged collision and health care fraud ring.

Background: Three Ontario rehabilitation clinics convicted in auto insurance fraud cases

The investigations also involved several insurers and IBC Investigative Services in support of the Toronto Police Services’ Project Whiplash. According to IBC, insurers have paid out an estimated $4 million in fraudulent claims as a result of this scam.

“We brought these criminals to justice because police, IBC, individual insurance companies and FSCO all worked very hard and collaborated well with each other,” Rick Dubin, vice president of investigative services at IBC said in a press release Thursday.

“Insurance crime is big business that siphons dollars away from our health care system, emergency services, courts and insurers.  The result is that it costs consumers and results in higher premiums. Higher penalties are the right way to stop these criminals – which is why IBC has long advocated for them,” Dubin said.  “Having the courts take these crimes seriously by imposing hefty fines sends an important message as we start Fraud Prevention Month.”

Three Toronto-area rehabilitation clinics have been convicted of multiple insurance act offences as a result of Project Whiplash with fines as high as $100,000 imposed per conviction.

Jeyakanthan Thivendran, a principal of North York Health and Rehabilitation Centre, who pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to take reasonable care to prevent the company from providing insurance claims forms to an insurer that were not in accordance with the Insurance Act and regulations, was also fined $5,000, according to IBC.

The clinic fined is not associated with North York Rehabilitation Centre Corp., which continues its operations in Toronto.