FBI raids Sovereign Health rehab chain’s sites across Southern California
Federal and state agents raided several locations Tuesday of the Southern California rehab company Sovereign Health as part of an ongoing probe, authorities said.
No arrests were made when officials executed search warrants at sites in Culver City, Palm Desert, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
The search warrants were filed under seal, and officials were barred from discussing the extent of the investigation, Eimiller said.
A spokesman for the company could not be reached for comment.
Sovereign Health has an array of treatment programs in Texas, Utah, Florida and Arizona, as well as multiple homes and facilities across Southern California.
The company’s website also lists an office in India, 10 homes in the Coachella Valley and eight homes around Culver City.
Sovereign offers programs for drug detoxification as well as treatment for addiction and mental health disorders.
In San Juan Capistrano, officials also searched a private residence along Silver Leaf Drive, the same street where Sovereign CEO Tonmoy Sharma lives.
Sharma’s medical license was revoked by Britain’s General Medical Council in 2008 for “serious professional misconduct.”
A panel found that he claimed to have a doctorate but had not completed his degree; that he undertook unethical research practices involving human subjects; and that he showed “a serious disregard for established ethical procedures and practice.”
At the time, Sharma told the Orange County Register that the loss of his license in Britain was unconnected to his work in the rehab industry, and he described the panel hearing as a “witch hunt.” Sharma told the newspaper he had a medical license in India.
Twitter: @MattHjourno
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