Dr julian omidi beverly hills

LOS ANGELES — The former operator of the now-defunct 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign was sentenced Monday to seven years behind bars for using fabricated sleep studies to persuade insurance companies to pay out tens of millions of dollars for Lap-Band surgery.

Julian Omidi, 54, of West Hollywood, and one of his companies, Beverly Hills-based Surgery Center Management, were found guilty in December 2021 of multiple wire and mail fraud counts.

Co-defendant Dr. Mirali Zarrabi, of Beverly Hills, was acquitted of all charges.

Omidi, a former doctor, also was found guilty of two counts of making false statements relating to health care matters and one count each of aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Additionally, Omidi and SCM were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

SCM was sentenced to five years probation. Fines and restitution are to be determined at a hearing in June.

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