Huntington Hospital Attorney Pleads Guilty to Kickback Scheme

A former Huntington Memorial Hospital attorney and construction manager has admitted to participating in a kickback scheme relating to the renovation of the hospital's emergency department, according to a federal official.

John Haw, 52, of Aliso Viejo, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two federal counts of mail fraud for his role in the scheme that illegally paid him nearly $350,000 over the course of a year, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

Haw had a deal with the hospital's director of construction, David Hamedany, where he would pay kickbacks to Hamedany in exchange for more legal and consulting work on the emergency department overhaul, according to the DOJ.

Hamedany pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and sentenced in January to three years in federal prison, the release states. He was ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution.

Haw will be sentenced in February and faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison, according to the DOJ. His plea agreement, however, calls for a sentence of approximately one year.