WASHINGTON — A California doctor was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for submitting more than $45 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for Botox injections that were medically unnecessary or never provided, officials announced Friday.
Violetta Mailyan, 45, of Glendale, owned and operated Healthy Way Medical Center, a clinic offering beauty and cosmetic services, according to court documents and trial evidence.
Quick fact checklist
☑ Defendant: Violetta Mailyan, 45, of Glendale, California
☑ Clinic: Healthy Way Medical Center
☑ Fraudulent Medicare claims: More than $45 million
☑ Claims for days clinic was closed: More than $19 million
☑ Convictions: Nine wire fraud counts; three obstruction counts
☑ Sentence: 15 years in prison
☑ Sentenced: Oct. 29, 2026
☑ Restitution: About $32.9 million
☑ Asset forfeiture: More than $16 million
Medicare covers Botox injections to treat documented cases of chronic migraines. But Mailyan billed for thousands of injections that patients never received, were performed solely for cosmetic purposes or involved patients whose primary care doctors had not referred them for migraine treatment.
More than $19 million in claims involved injections supposedly administered on days when her clinic was closed.
Mailyan also billed for treatments while vacationing in Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania and New York. During a trip to Cabo, Mexico, she submitted more than $200,000 in claims for services she purportedly provided in California.
When investigators began examining her billing, Mailyan falsified medical records and forged patients’ signatures, prosecutors said. Those records included purported treatment of a man who was in federal prison at the time.
A jury convicted Mailyan in May of nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstructing a criminal investigation of a health care offense.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered her to pay about $32.9 million in restitution to Medicare and forfeit more than $16 million in seized assets.
At sentencing, the judge described Mailyan’s fraud as “truly breathtaking in scope and shocking in its duration” and her actions as “almost unbelievable in their brazenness.”
In addition to the prison sentence, the judge ordered the immediate forfeiture of more than $16 million in seized assets, including real estate, personal property, securities and bank funds. Mailyan also must pay $32.9 million in restitution to Medicare. Federal authorities said they would pursue recovery of the stolen money.
A jury convicted Mailyan in May 2026 after a six-day trial on nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstructing a criminal investigation of a health care offense. Jurors also found that she used fraud proceeds to buy two Tesla vehicles, including a Cybertruck, and five California properties.
The FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General investigated.