Five individuals were arrested Thursday in Los Angeles on criminal charges related to their alleged roles in a years-long scheme to defraud Medicare of more than $15 million, according to federal officials.
The alleged charges stem from creating sham hospice companies and then laundering the fraud proceeds. The defendants allegedly spent the money on real estate and vehicles, among other things.
According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, three of the defendants—Petros Fichidzhyan, 43, of Granada Hills, California, Juan Carlos Esparza, 32, of Valley Village, California, and Karpis Srapyan, 34, of Van Nuys, California—allegedly operated a series of sham hospice companies that were purportedly owned by foreign nationals but were in fact owned by the three defendants.
The defendants allegedly used the foreign nationals’ identifying information to open bank accounts, to sign property leases, and, by Fichidzhyan, to make phone calls to Medicare, and submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services.
In submitting the false claims, the defendants misappropriated doctors’ identifying information, claiming to Medicare that the doctors had determined hospice services were necessary.
In fact, the recipients of these hospice services were not terminally ill and had never requested or received care from the sham hospices, according to the indictment.
In some instances, the defendants falsely claimed that the same beneficiary received services from multiple sham hospices.
Fichidzhyan, Esparza, and Srapyan, together with defendants Susanna Harutyunyan, 38, and Mihran Panosyan, 45, both of Winnetka, California, then allegedly laundered the proceeds fraudulently obtained from Medicare.
Fichidzhyan, Esparza, and Srapyan are charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and aggravated identity theft.
They are also charged with healthcare fraud. All of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to launder money and money laundering. Fichidzhyan is further charged with making false statements.
Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
All five defendants face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Fichidzhyan, Esparza, and Srapyan face an additional mandatory minimum of two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft count.
The charges announced Friday are the most recent in the Justice Department’s ongoing effort to combat hospice fraud in the greater Los Angeles area.
The FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Eric C. Schmale and Sarah E. Edwards of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.