Doctor to pay $2 million as part of settlement

A Newport Beach doctor will pay the U.S. government more than $2 million as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors for fraudulently billing Medicare programs, officials said.

Paul Lessler, 70, a physician out of Corona del Mar, had his medical license stripped earlier this year and pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and healthcare fraud last year for filing false claims of giving patients respiratory treatments between 2002 and 2006, prosecutors said.

Lessler was an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist who owned University Pain Specialists.

He will pay the federal government $2.18 million as part of a settlement with prosecutors on a related civil case.

For years, Lessler provided others kickbacks when patients were referred to him who needed respiratory treatment.

Prosecutors said Lessler did not treat patients as they should have been treated under Medicare guidelines.

— Joseph Serna