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A Seattle cosmetic surgeon who performs sex change operations has been sued by the Washington attorney general over claims he doctored before-and-after photos of the procedure, and has threatened patients who left negative comments with a $250,000 fine.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the lawsuit Thursday against Allure Esthetic and its owner, Dr. Javad Sajan, for violation of state and federal laws protecting consumer and patient privacy.
Allure Esthetic is accused of posting fake five-star reviews with edited “before and after” photos of procedures sent by fake email accounts. The reviews were then posted via a VPN to hide the sender’s IP address, Ferguson said.
The year-long investigation by the attorney general’s office interviewed 10 consumers and 40 former Allure Esthetic employees in response to complaints they received.
Ferguson said, “Allure will stop at nothing to keep negative reviews off the Internet.” One former employee called his tactics “relentless,” KING5 News informed.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the lawsuit Thursday during a news conference.
Dr. Javad Sajan MD Allure Esthetic seen here performing a procedure on a patient that was posted to the clinic’s Instagram account with the comment: “A comfortable patient is a comfortable injection.”
Between 2017 and 2019, Allure had more than 10,000 consumers sign confidentiality agreements before having a consultation that required patients to contact the business rather than post a negative review, the news outlet reported.
The lawsuit alleges that Allure went so far as to sue the anonymous reviewers for defamation, to control what was said publicly about the practice on sites like Google and Yelp. The Seattle Times informed.
“This case is about a business and its owner who did everything in their power, often illegally, to prevent individual customers from telling the public what their experience was in those reviews,” Ferguson said during the press conference on Thursday.
Ferguson said that if a patient wrote a negative review about the practice, the clinic would bribe them and threaten to remove it, even offering patients cash and services to do so. If a patient didn’t comply, Allure would threaten to sue.
Those who accepted the bribe to remove the negative reviews were forced to sign a second confidentiality agreement stating that they could face a $250,000 fine if they post negative reviews in the future. Ferguson alleged that the company still requires these agreements.
The lawsuit accuses Allure of posting false five-star reviews and manipulating before and after photos of procedures. The company was also accused of buying fake followers and likes, and creating fake profiles to write positive reviews of the company.
He also claimed reimbursements for skin care without the consent of patients, using patients’ real names and dates of birth to sign up for reimbursements, then pocketing the money.
As part of that settlement, the lawsuit claims, patients were required to give up their privacy rights so the company could respond to negative reviews with personal health information.
Ferguson claimed that this violated the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a law that prohibits certain entities from disclosing sensitive medical information without a “valid” authorization.
A ‘before and after’ photo of a facial feminization procedure Dr Sajan performed involving ‘hairline reduction, brow bone reduction, rhinoplasty and chin reduction’
A’ before and after photo one month post procedure of a male to female transgender gender affirming brow bone reduction, endothin hairline reduction, forehead lift, rhinoplasty, lip lift , chin bone reduction and mandibular jaw reduction’
Allure Esthetics Seattle office located at 601 Broadway
The Allure Esthetics website he shows is one of Dr. Javad Sajan as he advertises the plastic surgeon’s podcast describing the shows as “unique shops, raw pain, real wins.”
The attorney general said Allure removed the language in 2019, but the company continued to require these “pre-service” agreements until March 2022.
During the conference, Ferguson, citing a former employee, gave examples of some of the modifications made. “I was asked to manipulate the back photograph of a patient who had hair caps to cover a bald area and I was asked to retouch photos of patients who had tummy tuck procedures to make them look curvier and flatter.”
He said former web designers who worked for Allure from 2018 to 2021 said they regularly posted fake reviews by creating fictitious personas online at the owner’s direction. They were also told to use stock photos and create a persona to create a more realistic profile for posting Allure reviews.
They claimed that Allure also used a virtual private network, or VPN, to hide the IP addresses of the reviews. Ferguson called it an elaborate system they had in place so they couldn’t be traced back to the company or flagged by review sites as fake.
Ferguson has asked the court to stop Allure from continuing what he calls “unlawful practices for violations of consumer protection and patient privacy laws.”
He is seeking financial penalties of $7,500 per violation, and for patients to receive restitution paid for their $100 pre-consultation fee and cash refunds.
Allure also does business under the names Seattle Plastic Surgery, Alderwood Surgical Center, Gallery of Cosmetic Surgery, Nasal Sinus Center and Northwest Face and Body, according to the lawsuit.
The practice it offers surgical and non-surgical treatments, including botox and gender-affirming care, has offices in the Seattle, Lynnwood and Kirkland areas.
On Allure’s website, Dr. Sajan is prominently featured in a photo that also shows a seal he awarded to the top 10 plastic surgeons in a patient satisfaction survey two years in a row, 2020-2021, conducted by the Allure American Institute of Plastic Surgeons.
The site also has 474 reviews and a rating of 4.9.
When DailyMal.com called Dr. Sajan’s offices, their service told them the offices were closed until Tuesday.