Fifteen chiropractors, including one from Beverly Hills, have been charged in a $6 million insurance fraud and illegal kickback scheme involving automobile collision medical claims, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

A criminal complaint filed on April 26 lists 18 felony counts including insurance fraud and illegally participating in patient referral rebates when licensed in the healing arts or as a chiropractor. Most of the defendants were arrested on May 3.

The alleged ringleader of the operation, Yury Chernega, 47, of Studio City, faces four counts each of the aforementioned charges as well as four counts of failure to file income tax returns and one count of money laundering. The charges include allegations of taking more than $500,000 from approximately 30 insurance companies through fraud and embezzlement. Chernega faces 18 years and nine months in state prison.

Also charged was Michael Milman, 53, of Beverly Hills, as well as numerous other defendants arrested in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

From 2015 through 2018, Chernega allegedly offered to refer new patients to other chiropractors in return for an illegal referral fee, through which he collected about $6 million, prosecutors said. The patients had allegedly been involved in automobile collisions.

The defendants are also accused of filing false claims for medical services they never provided. Additionally, Chernega allegedly didn’t report income from the illegal kickbacks on his taxes, according to prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorneys Heba Matta and LaChandra Wilkerson, of the Auto Insurance Fraud Division, are prosecuting the case, which remains under investigation by the district attorney’s Bureau of Investigation.