Newport Beach sober living homes owner indicted for allegedly paying nearly $175,000 to ‘body brokers’

A Newport Beach man was arrested Saturday for allegedly paying nearly $175,000 in illegal payments to receive referrals of patients to his sober living homes — a practice known as “body brokering,” according to authorities.

Scott Raffa, 57, the founder and chief executive officer of Sober Partners Network, was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport this weekend, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California on Monday. Raffa was indicted for 12 counts of illegal renumerations for referrals to his clinical treatment facilities by a federal grand jury on April 10.

According to prosecutors, the facilities that Raffa operated, which include the Sober Partners Waterfront Recovery Center, Sober Partners Reef House and Sober Partners Beach House, treated patients that received healthcare benefits through health insurers. He is alleged to have paid individuals who referred patients to his treatment centers, with each of those individuals — body brokers — operating their own business entities through which Raffa paid them through deposits or wire transfers. The alleged practice was documented between April 2020 to October 2021.

Authorities said that Raffa would allegedly enter “sham contracts” with some of those individuals to conceal the payments. Payments would be determined, in encrypted messaging services, by insurance revenues that Raffa expected for those patients, prosecutors said. He allegedly would refuse to pay if those clients stayed for less than 21 days at one of his facilities.

If convicted on all charges, Raffa faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count.

In a statement Tuesday, attorney Harry Nelson said that his law firm, Nelson Hardiman LLP, has worked with Raffa on other issues like regulatory compliance. Nelson said in the time he’s gotten to know his client, Raffa has been “attentive and committed to following all laws and regulations.”

“When the investigation that led to the arrest began, Scott cooperated with the government fully to try to address the countless individuals and organizations who unfortunately do not share his personal commitments and who continue to engage in rampant illegal practices in addiction treatment and recovery,” Nelson said. “It is ironic and, frankly, a shame in our view that the government brought these allegations against one of the good guys.

“Without addressing the specifics of allegations from three and four years ago, I can personally attest that Scott is a high-integrity and decent person devoted to delivering addiction treatment and recovery services the right way, in strict compliance with the law. I am confident that Scott’s integrity and commitment to following the law will serve him in good stead in responding to the charges here.”