WASHINGTON— A Southern California man who was found guilty for his role in a $1.5 million Medicare fraud and identity theft scheme was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, officials said.
Vahe Tahmasian, 36, of Glendale, California, was found guilty by a federal jury on March 21.
He was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of health care fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft .
In addition to his prison term, the judge ordered Tahmasian to pay $994,036 in restitution to the Medicare program.
This is what the evidence shows, according to authorities:
- Between April 2009 and February 2011, Tahmasian operated a Medicare fraud scheme at Orthomed Appliance Inc., a supply company in West Hollywood, California.
- Tahmasian and his co-conspirator, Eric Mkhitarian, purchased Orthomed from the previous owners and put the company in the name of a “straw” owner.
- The defendant and his co-conspirator then stole the personal identifying information of Medicare beneficiaries and doctors in the company’s patient files, and used that information to submit a large volume of fraudulent claims to Medicare.
- The evidence showed that during a three-month period in late 2010, Tahmasian submitted more than $1.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for services that were never prescribed by a physician and never provided to the Medicare beneficiaries.
- Tahmasian and his co-conspirator then took out more than $622,000 in cash from the company over a six-week period in early 2011. The evidence also showed that Tahmasian used a fake California driver’s license to further the fraud scheme.
- Tahmasian submitted a total of $1,584,640 in claims to Medicare and received approximately $994,036 on those claims.