CALIFORNIA
The owner and operator of three medical clinics located in Los Angeles plead guilty today to scamming Medicare by submitting $4.5 million in phony claims to Medicare, officials said today.
In connection with his guilty plea, officials said Hovik Simitian admitted that he and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for lab tests and other services that either were not medically necessary or were not actually provided to the Medicare beneficiaries.
Also Simitian and others created false documentation reflecting that the services had been provided, according to his plea agreement.
The fraud occurred from February 2010 to June 2014, officials said.
Simitian and his co-conspirators submitted about $4.5 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. Medicare paid approximately $1.6 million of those claims.
Simitian, 48, of Los Angeles, plead guilty in federal court in Los Angeles to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 16, officials said.