An indictment unsealed Wednesday details how “corrupt lawyers” misled clients into making unnecessary medical visits and used fake investigators to aid an alleged multimillion-dollar insurance fraud.

The federal grand jury indictment of a chiropractor and two clinic operators stopped short of identifying the attorneys but illustrated widening investigative scrutiny of South Florida lawyers handling personal injury protection, or PIP, insurance claims. It also detailed how attorneys allegedly “misled patients through fraudulent statements” designed to ensure claimants received the most expensive treatments to collect the maximum $10,000 PIP benefit.

“In some cases, the accident victims would not have a viable bodily injury lawsuit, but the corrupt attorneys … would not relay that information to the accident victims, for fear that the accident victims would stop receiving treatment at the clinics,” according to the indictment.

The goal, according to prosecutors, was to dupe victims “into believing that such patients had viable and potentially lucrative lawsuits” to encourage them to make dozens of unnecessary visits to companies linked to the defendants, chiropractor Olga Spivak and clinic operators Felix Filenger and Andrew Rubinstein.

“If the accident victims failed to treat for at least 30 visits at their chiropractic clinics, Filenger and Rubinstein would refer them back to the corrupt lawyers so that the victims could be instructed to return to the clinics,” according to a Department of Justice release.

Prosecutors also claimed participants posed as members of the media to obtain accident reports.

Spivak's attorney is Avraham Alan Spivak of Spivak|Diez Litigation Attorneys in North Miami Beach. Rubinstein's defense counsel is Miami attorney Marc David Seitles of Seitles & Litwin. The lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.

Filenger's defense counsel, Michael Ross Tein of Lewis Tein in Coconut Grove, denied wrongdoing by his client.

“As I've been telling the government for the past year, they have the wrong man,” Tein said.

The alleged fraud involved referrals to more than 11 clinics across Florida, including Osceola Chiropractic & Wellness Center P.A., Delray Chiropractic and Wellness Center Inc., Hollywood Wellness and Rehabilitation Center Inc., West Palm Beach Wellness & Rehabilitation Center P.A., Advanced Medical Associates and Forme Rehab Inc., West Coast Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Center P.A., Central Florida Wellness and Rehabilitation P.A., Accumed Wellness and Rehabilitation Center Inc., Medwell Wellness and Rehabilitation Center Inc., and Total Wellness Chiropractic Center Inc.

“Based upon instructions from Filenger and Rubinstein, the co-conspirator chiropractic clinics would treat the patients based solely on a profit motive and without regard for patient health,” according to the charging document. “This treatment would include costly and invasive nerve conduction velocity tests performed not based upon medical necessity but upon the amount of insurance compensation received.”

Prosecutors alleged a yearslong conspiracy beginning in 2010 by Filenger and Rubinstein, who allegedly controlled 12 chiropractic clinics registered to straw owners. They claim clinic operators paid illegal kickbacks to tow truck companies and others with access to car accident information, then solicited crash victims to file claims for the entire $10,000 PIP benefit.

“The co-conspirator corrupt attorneys employed in-house runners, disguised as law firm investigators and/or independent contractors in order to illegally solicit clients/patients,” according to the indictment. “Independent runners would at times refer accident victims to corrupt attorneys in order to illegally solicit potential lawsuits, and to encourage the patients to receive treatment at the clinics.”

The news follows the arrest of five personal injury attorneys — Vincent Pravato, Mark Spatz, Adam Hurtig, Alexander Kapetan and Steven Slootsky — on felony charges related to patient brokering. In most cases, investigators allege the  lawyers paid accomplices $500 to $1,500 per client to refer “unsuspecting vehicle accident victims” to make insurance claims.

Those arrests stemmed from Broward deputies teaming with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, which is part of the Organized Crime Unit in the Sheriff's Office, and with the Department of Financial Services, National Insurance Crime Bureau, the Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Broward State Attorney's Office.

A sixth personal injury lawyer, Jason Dalley, is charged with federal conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and health care fraud.

Five of the six accused have remained largely silent, not responding to requests for comment.

Kapetan, who faces no allegations of solicitation, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Eric Schwartzreich of Schwartzreich & Associates in Fort Lauderdale, said prosecutors won't succeed in proving Kapetan accepted payment in return for referrals.

Police sources said more arrests are coming as part of an FBI-led multiagency investigation.

The newly unsealed seven-count Indictment charges Spivak, Filenger and Rubinstein with conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, making false statements relating to health care matters, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and health care fraud.

If convicted of all of the charges, Filenger and Rubinstein face up to 80 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.75 million or twice the amount of any criminally derived property, whichever is greater, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Spivak faces up to 70 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $1.25 million or twice the amount of any  criminally derived property. Dalley faces up to five years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.