LOS ANGELES
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the former owner of a Los Angeles-based medical supply company to seven years in prison for his role in a fraud scheme.
Hakop Gambaryan billed Medicare $3.3 million in fraudulent claims as a result of the scheme, officials said.
Gambaryan was sentenced today to seven years in prison for his role in a fraud scheme that resulted in $3.3 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
In March, a jury convicted Gambaryan, 55, of East Hollywood, California, of four counts of health care fraud, officials said.
U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II also ordered Gambaryan to pay $1.7 million as restitution.
The evidence showed the following during the trial:
- Between March 2006 and December 2012, Gambaryan paid cash kickbacks to medical clinics for fraudulent prescriptions for durable medical equipment, which the patients did not need.
- Gambaryan then used these prescriptions to bill Medicare for the unnecessary equipment.
- Gambaryan personally delivered power wheelchairs to many beneficiaries who were able to walk without assistance.
- In one case, Gambaryan carried a power wheelchair up a flight of stairs for a woman who lived in a second floor apartment with no elevator.
- In another case, the power wheelchair would not fit inside the beneficiary’s home, so Gambaryan put it in the beneficiary’s garage.
Gambaryan submitted false documents to support the fraudulent claims, including fake home assessments when no home assessments actually occurred, according to officials.
In addition, officials said Gambaryan photocopied beneficiaries’ signatures hundreds of times to create the appearance that the beneficiaries consented to ongoing equipment rentals, when they did not.
At least two of the beneficiaries had passed away prior to the date they supposedly signed the rental agreements, according to authorities.