After fleeing the country, the former director of a Rancho Mirage medical center was extradited to the United States from Israel and given a sentence of little over eight years in federal prison for a $44 million cosmetic surgery fraud scam.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Linda Morrow, 70, and her physician husband submitted false insurance claims for treatments that were actually nose jobs, stomach tucks, breast augmentations, and vaginal rejuvenations. These surgeries were claimed to be “medically required.”
Linda Morrow was given a 97-month prison sentence and was also ordered to pay $14 million in restitution by U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton on Friday, according to the federal agency. The judge also stated that Linda Morrow’s “greed has no bounds.” In 2020, the same judge gave David M. Morrow, a cosmetic surgeon, a 20-year prison sentence for the crimes.
The couple’s Coachella Valley medical practice, the Morrow Institute, with Linda Morrow as its executive director. David Morrow specialized in facelifts and other cosmetic rejuvenation surgeries and treatments, according to the company’s now-defunct website, and also saw patients in Beverly Hills.
The couple fled to Israel in 2017 after being accused of defrauding Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Cigna Health, as well as several school districts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They were accused of invoicing insurance companies for operations that were not covered.
According to federal investigators, Linda Morrow used a false Mexican passport to enter Israel and a false Guatemalan passport while residing there. While there, she also applied fraudulently for Israeli citizenship. In 2019, she was returned to the US after being extradited.
