“Yellowstone” actress charged with $96k Workers Comp Fraud

“Yellowstone” actress charged with $96k Workers Comp Fraud

“Yellowstone” actress Q’orianka Kilcher was charged with workers’ compensation insurance fraud after collecting over $90,000 in disability benefits, the California Department of Insurance said.

Kilcher, 32, sustained a neck and shoulder injury in 2018 on the set of the film “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” according to a statement from the department. Though she claimed in October 2019 she had to turn down work due to her neck pain, she worked as an actress on the popular television show “Yellowstone” from July to October that year. Kilcher began receiving disability payments just five days after last working on “Yellowstone,” according to the release.

From October 2019 to September 2021, Kilcher collected $96,838 in disability benefits. She is next set to appear in a Los Angeles court on August 7 after an arraignment in May.

“When told about Kilcher’s recent employment history, the doctor on her claim stated if they had been aware of it they would have never granted her the disability payments,” the department said in the statement.

“Yellowstone,” a Paramount Network series, has been a big hit on cable TV and streaming since its debut in 2018. The Emmy-nominated show stars Kevin Costner as the patriarch of a ranching empire in Montana.

Kilcher and her representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement to the Associated Press, Michael Becker, Kilcher’s lawyer, said the actress will “vigorously defend herself and asks that she be afforded the presumption of innocence both in and outside the courthouse.”

Source : https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/-yellowstone-actress-charged-with-workers-compensation-fraud