LOS ANGELES
The office manager and part-owner of a Reseda medical clinic has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for his role in a health-care fraud scheme that generated millions of dollars – money that was not reported on his federal income tax returns.
U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II sentenced Michael Huynh, 67, of Northridge, on Monday.
In addition, Judge Wright ordered Huynh to pay just over $1.9 million in restitution to the victim insurance companies and back taxes – estimated to be near $950,000 – to the IRS.nternal Revenue Service.
Following a seven-day trial in September 2016, Huynh was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud and 11 counts of filing false tax returns.
The evidence at trial indicated that between January 2004 and November 2009 Huynh and a pharmacist participated in a health-care fraud scheme that billed private insurance plans for prescription medication that was never dispensed to insured patients.
Huyhn provided co-conspirator Farhad N. Dany Sharim with bogus prescriptions purportedly for patients of the medical clinic who were insured by healthcare benefit programs.
Sharim, a co-owner of Century Discount Pharmacy in Reseda, then submitted false and fraudulent bills for prescription drugs that had not been dispensed to the patients.
As a result, Sharim’s pharmacy received substantial payments from various health care benefit programs to which it was not entitled, and Sharim paid Huyhn more than $1.1 million.
In addition to the healthcare fraud scheme, Huynh filed false federal tax returns for tax years 2007 through 2011 that underreported the medical clinic’s gross receipts and sales by more than $1.6 million.
Sharim, 57, of Sherman Oaks, previously plead guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and will be sentenced on May 1.