Former Tulare hospital executive Dr. Yorai “Benny” Benzeevi will avoid jail time and serve 463 days of probation in Los Angeles County after pleading no contest to six felonies and two misdemeanors.
The charges stemmed from acts undertaken when he and his company, Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, managed Tulare Regional Medical Center and the Southern Inyo Hospital.
A negotiated plea deal, which Judge Michael Sheltzer upheld, required Benzeevi to complete 420 hours of community service, 120 days of house arrest, pay $2m restitution to the Tulare Local Healthcare District, and pay $400k restitution to the Southern Inyo Healthcare District.
Benzeevi and HCCA managed hospitals in both districts, and his charges related to crimes against both hospitals.
He had completed his community service, house arrest, and restitution requirements by the time of the sentencing hearing on November 14. He will also be required to pay upwards of $1,000 in fines and fees before his probation ends.
Benzeevi is only serving 463 days of probation instead of two years as he was credited for 267 days of house arrest. The credit came from the time between when Benzeevi would have normally been sentenced and the November court date, Sheltzer said.
While sentencing normally would have taken place 20 days after the February hearing in which Benzeevi changed his plea, the sentencing was repeatedly delayed due to the Israel-Hamas War. Benzeevi’s funds were frozen – including funds located in Israeli banks – during the case, and the funds’ release was required to provide restitution to the districts. The war is slowing bureaucratic and court operations in Israel, delaying the un-freezing of his Israeli bank accounts.
Sheltzer handed down the sentence after victim impact statements were given by Xavier Avila, a Tulare Local Healthcare District board member, and Patty Drilling Phelps, a Tulare dentist and founding member of Citizens for Hospital Accountability, a grassroots group which pursued and opposed Benzeevi’s management of Tulare Regional Medical Center.
Avila and Drilling Phelps both asked the court to sentence Benzeevi to actual jail time, as did the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.
Sheltzer said that he was bound to hold up the original plea agreement, which only included probation, as Benzeevi had held up his end of the deal – and Sheltzer said he favored the deal because it gave the opportunity for immediate monetary restitution.
“The primary reasoning for this […] was so that restitution would be paid in full,” Sheltzer said. “If Dr. Benzeevi was not allowed to work, that major goal would not be accomplished. It would not serve the public purpose to put him in the four walls of a jail cell, even though I realize that perhaps some members of the community feel that would be more appropriate.”
It also prevented years of additional litigation.
“I didn’t honestly expect this case to settle,” Sheltzer said. “I’m glad that it did.”
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said he was pleased with the resolution to Benzeevi’s case.
“As I stated at the time of the plea, our focus was to financially restore the losses caused by the defendant while having him admit his guilt. I believe that goal has been met – $2.4 million dollars in restitution has been returned to victims in Tulare and Inyo and the defendant is a convicted felon. However, we cannot forget the human and extremely personal toll the defendant’s actions took on the community,” Ward said in a press release.
“Though we advocated for time in custody, we respect the court’s decisions today. We now look forward to focusing our efforts on the remaining defendant in this case.”
DA asks for year in jail. Benzeevi attorney: he’s suffered enough
The Tulare County District Attorney’s office requested that the judge sentence Benzeevi to one year in jail and one year probation instead of two years’ probation.
View note
“The seriousness of the crime goes far beyond any illicit benefit that Dr. Benzeevi may have received and strikes to the heart of the citizens’ right to have any local government place the interests of the citizenry above all,” a filing written by Trevor Holly, Assistant District Attorney, reads. “This is a serious matter, and the Court must not only look to an appropriate punishment given Dr. Benzeevi’s conduct, but also consider that the punishment be substantial enough to deter other public officials from engaging in the same conduct. Therefore, the People respectfully request a sentence of 365-days and felony probation.”
Holly said the same in court.
“We have our public officials in charge of operating institutions and spending money for the public good,” he said. “We expect more from them, and one of the things we expect is that they will not enter into contracts, where they have a financial interest in doing so.”
Benzeevi’s attorney, Nina Marino, told the court that Benzeevi was a good person who had been given bad advice.
“He’s a good person. He had good intentions. He got bad advice. He lost his marriage, he lost all his financial security, he lost his employment, he’s lost his career,” she said. “I’ve said before he took full responsibility, he takes full responsibility. He’s paid his debt to society, and we ask the court to impose the sentence indicated.”
View note
In a filing, Marino states that Benzeevi “relied extensively on the advice of counsel in his contractual undertakings on behalf of HCCA,” and that he “dedicated his career to providing medical care to underserved communities,” including in Merced, Fresno, El Centro, Madera, Visalia, Selma, Turlock, and Tulare.
The case has taken a personal toll on Benzeevi and his family, she said in the filing: he and his wife separated in 2017 “after enduring several years of racial and anti-Semitic slurs, public ridicule, insults, and threats” stemming from the case, and his wife filed for divorce in 2023, according to court records.
Additionally, Benzeevi “now faces disciplinary proceedings before the Medical Board for his convictions in this matter,” and after filing his “no contest” plea, Marino states Benzeevi lost a job at a Los Angeles-area urgent care clinic.
“By all accounts, Dr. Benzeevi has been punished and he continues to be punished. He has suffered and will continue to suffer severe collateral consequences because of the prosecution and convictions,” the filing states. “This is a factor this Court should consider when imposing sentence.”
Charges pleaded, charges dropped
Benzeevi initially faced 46 felony and misdemeanor counts related to embezzlement, fraud, conflicts of interest, and violations of the Political Reform Act.
42 of those charges were dismissed with the plea deal. The remaining counts relate to:
- The use of Tulare district funds to finance a lawsuit against Dr. Abraham Betre
- The creation of a line of credit for the Southern Inyo Hospital using Tulare’s funds
- Making loans to Southern Inyo through a financial entity he created and controlled
- Issuing promissory notes to Tulare secured by a deed on district property, including the Evolutions gym
- Selling $3m in Tulare Regional hospital equipment in a leaseback transaction
- Funding the private intelligence agency Psy Group to influence the recall election of former Tulare hospital board member Dr. Parmod Kumar, a supporter of HCCA’s management who Benzeevi hired as the medical director at Southern Inyo
- Participating in efforts to avoid the recognition and seating of Senovia Gutierrez, the former Tulare hospital board member who won Kumar’s seat after he was recalled, and a critic of HCCA’s management
If Benzeevi had been convicted on all 46 charges, he could have faced up to 44 years in prison, though under existing guidelines and California’s Prop 47, that would have been incredibly unlikely.
“There’s no way that any court is going to sentence you to 44 years in county jail,” Sheltzer told Benzeevi during a February 9 hearing.
Impact on other cases
Benzeevi is the second leadership figure of Healthcare Conglomerate Associates to face consequences for actions taken when HCCA managed the two hospitals – Tulare Regional from 2014 to 2017, and Southern Inyo from 2016 to 2017.
Alan Germany, former CFO for HCCA and Tulare Regional, and Southern Inyo’s former Chief Restructuring Officer, pleaded “no contest” to two counts: a misdemeanor count of failing to file a financial disclosure form required of public officials, and a felony count of violating Government Code 1090, a public conflict-of-interest law.
Bruce Greene, HCCA’s former attorney, was charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors, initially through a criminal filing by the District Attorney’s office; and, after multiple delays in the initial case, he was indicted by a grand jury in 2024, closing the initial case and opening a new one.
He has maintained his innocence and has previously refused plea deals in his case.
Holly said that while Benzeevi could be used as a witness in Greene’s case, the Tulare County District Attorney’s office did not make a cooperating plea agreement. it was unlikely that he would be called to do so due to potential attorney-client privilege issues.
“60 days after sentencing, when the appellate rights have expired, either side may call him as a witness and he’s under the same obligation that everyone else is,” Holly said. “It all gets very complicated though, so I don’t know if anyone will call him as a witness.”
Victim impact statements
Avila told the court that Benzeevi’s actions warranted a “firm response” and had significantly damaged the community, and that his actions led to the closure of the hospital – during which time Avila said he had been told of patients who showed up to an empty building at best, and lost their life at worst. His full statement is available here.
“The board is not asking that this court reject the plea presently before it, but it does strongly urge the court to sentence Dr. Benzeevi to meaningful jail time. Although the crimes to which Dr. Benzeevi is pleading no contest to are non-violent in nature, the resulting damage caused to this community is certainly an act of violence,” Avila said.
“My board is forced to fight a lingering negative perception of the district and the hospital leadership. It shocks the conscience that all this happened under the leadership of a licensed emergency medical position,” Avila said.
Drilling Phelps said that Benzeevi’s actions led directly to patient harm and deaths, and that his harm must be considered in sentencing. Her full statement is available here.
“It cannot be overlooked that there was physical harm done to patients – in some cases, resulting in the ultimate sacrifice of death. There were victims who suffered and died. Let that sink in a moment. They died because of greed and the need for power, placing profits over people,” Drilling Phelps said. “There were inadequate supplies, some taken away from our hospital to Southern Inyo, inoperative equipment, lack of infection control and physical plant disrepair because money was being hoarded rather than put back into the hospital. The Medical Executive Committee was disbanded by the district board at the behest of Drs. Benzeevi and Kumar, so there would be no oversight of physicians, nor oversight of hospital care.”
“HCCA touted first-world financial success while operating a third-world hospital. Morally, these were intentionally cruel, careless and inhumane acts. The district attorney and the court examined the hospital district’s financial loss and its legal ramifications. Overlooked is the human component: the irreparable harm done to patients at the hospital while financial crimes were perpetrated,” it continues.
What’s next
Proceedings for Greene’s trial are tentatively scheduled to start on February 24, 2025. The Voice will continue to cover that case to its conclusion.