California woman pleads guilty in cosmetic surgery scheme

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A former Southern California woman has pleaded guilty in a scheme to bilk insurance companies out of some $44 million by billing them for cosmetic surgeries she falsely claimed were medically required. Federal prosecutors say Linda Morrow entered pleas in federal court to conspiracy and to contempt of court for fleeing the United States after her 2017 indictment. Prosecutors say the former Rancho Mirage woman and her husband ran a surgery institute that performed tummy tucks, nose jobs and other cosmetic procedures and then falsely billed insurers. She and her husband, Dr. David Morrow, were extradited from Israel in 2019. He’s serving a 20-year sentence.