LOS ANGELES
A federal judge sentence a West Los Angeles man who was the owner of a medical supply company to five years in federal prison for his role in a scheme that fraudulently billed more than $4 million to Medicare.
U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero sentenced Valery Bogomolny, 44, of Westwood, and ordered the defendant to pay $1.2 million in restitution.
Bogomolny was found guilty by a jury in November 2015 of six counts of health care fraud.
“Royal Medical Supply was a complete fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Many purported patients lived over 100 miles away from the storefront, most of the prescriptions were issued under the names of doctors either associated with or the victims of fraud, and most of the patients never received the equipment paid for by Medicare. Mr. Bogomolny supervised this scheme victimizing U.S. taxpayers, warranting this significant sentence.”
According to evidence, between January 2006 and October 2009, Bogomolny used his company, Royal Medical Supply of Los Angeles, to bill Medicare $4 million for power wheelchairs, back braces and knee braces that were medically unnecessary, not provided to beneficiaries or both.
The evidence further showed that Bogomolny created false documentation to support his false billing claims, including creating fake reports of home assessments that never occurred.
Power wheelchairs were delivered to beneficiaries who were able to walk without assistance.
In other cases, officials said Bogomolny signed documents stating that he had delivered equipment when, in fact, the equipment was not actually delivered.