Ohio Chiropractor Must Pay Nearly $70K for Workers’ Comp Fraud

A Fairfield (Butler County) chiropractor was sentenced to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution and investigation costs to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).

Tariq Arif pleaded guilty Jan. 13 in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to one count of workers’ compensation fraud, a first-degree misdemeanor, as part of a plea agreement.

In an undercover operation, BWC-SID agents posed as injured workers and sought treatment at the Back and Pain Rehab Center, a chiropractic and rehabilitation clinic owned and operated by Arif. The investigation found that Arif billed for treatment not rendered to injured workers.

Arif was sentenced to serve 180 days in jail, which was suspended for five years of community control. He was also ordered to pay $10,169.96 in restitution and $59,186.20 in investigative costs – a total of $69,356.16 – as a term of his community control.