April 15--A Los Angeles judge on Friday drastically lowered the bail for several defendants charged in a $150-million fraud case that prosecutors have described as one of the largest insurance scams in California history.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy reduced bail to $1.635 million -- from as high as $21.5 million -- after dismissing aggravated mayhem charges in the case. The charges carried a potential life sentence.
Prosecutors argued that the aggravated mayhem counts were justified, saying that the scheme resulted in dozens of patients suffering serious scars after a physician's assistant -- not Dr. Munir Uwaydah, the certified surgeon patients believed would conduct the procedure -- performed surgeries on them.
One woman testified to grand jurors that she was in excruciating pain after her shoulder surgery and later learned that whomever performed her procedure had accidentally left 24 inches of gauze beneath her skin.
But the judge disagreed with the prosecution's argument.
"I just don't find evidence of specific intent to permanently disfigure," Kennedy said at a court hearing Friday.
A district attorney's spokeswoman said the office is reviewing Kennedy's decision.
The remaining charges, which are laid out in two indictments, include accusations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and "capping," which entails illegal patient referrals, as well as other crimes.
One of the defendants in the case, Kelly Soo Park, was acquitted three years ago of murdering 21-year-old model Juliana Redding at her apartment in 2008. Prosecutors earlier said that Uwaydah gave payments totaling six figures to Park and her family before the slaying and before Park's arrest on the murder charge.
Park's attorney, Mark Kassabian, told Kennedy on Friday that his client -- whose bail was previously set at $10 million -- is prepared to post bail.
Uwaydah, the accused ringleader who prosecutors initially said had been arrested in Germany, remains at large.
For more news from the Los Angeles County criminal courts, follow @marisagerber
