Actor Q'orianka Kilcher has been charged with illegally collecting disability benefits amounting to nearly $97,000 while working on the popular TV show "Yellowstone," authorities said Monday.
The 32-year-old star was charged with two felony counts of workers' compensation insurance fraud, the California Department of Insurance said in a statement.
During her time filming "Dora and the Lost City of Gold" in 2018, Kilcher allegedly injured her neck and right shoulder, the insurance department's statement said. Her attorney, Michael Becker, confirmed this to Page Six, saying that Kilcher was a passenger in a production vehicle when the injury took place.
"Third-party doctors verified her injury and entitlement to benefits," Becker said. "Ms. Kilcher was at all times candid with her doctors and treatment providers and she never intentionally accepted benefits that she did not believe she was entitled to."
A year later, Kilcher informed a doctor handling the insurance claim that she was forced to turn down work because of severe neck pain due to the injury. She subsequently received $96,838 in her bank account as temporary disability benefits between 2019 and 2021.
An investigation however found an overlap between the months in 2019 that she claimed to have been disabled and the months she worked on "Yellowstone."
"According to records, she returned to the doctor and started receiving disability benefits five days after last working on the show," the statement said, noting that Kilcher self-surrendered and was arraigned on the charges in May.
The doctor who responded to Kilcher's insurance claim said that if they had been aware of the star's employment in 2019, "they would never have granted her the disability payments," according to People.
Becker argued that Kilcher provided regular updates to her caseworker at the Division of Workers' Compensation. He said she will "vigorously defend herself," adding that he also has asked for Kilcher to "be afforded the presumption of innocence both in and outside the courthouse."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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