A St. Paul personal injury attorney has been charged with participating in a long-running scheme to recruit chiropractic patients that duped auto insurance companies into covering health care services.

Bradley H. Ratgen, 52, was charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud under Minnesota's no-fault insurance law, which compels insurers to cover clients' medical expenses regardless of who is to blame for a crash.

Ratgen was charged by what is called an information, signaling his intention to swiftly plead guilty. Court records show a plea agreement hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10.

Messages were left Thursday with him and his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

The scheme began in 2015 and continued until late last year, according to prosecutors.

In one instance, the charging document read, Ratgen represented someone he knew was illegally recruited as a chiropractic patient in that person's threat to sue an auto insurance company.

Otherwise, the federal court filing offered little detail about how many attempts were made to defraud insurers or how much money was involved.

The state's Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, the profession's licensing regulatory body in Minnesota, filed a disciplinary case against Ratgen in July 2021 related to the fraud allegations against him. Ratgen filed a reply denying the crux of the allegations.

Resolution of the board's case against Ratgen is on hold until the federal allegations are resolved, said Susan Humiston, the board's director.

Ratgen graduated from St. Paul's William Mitchell College of Law in 1995 and founded his personal injury law firm in 2000, according to its website.