Five people have been arrested in Los Angeles for their alleged involvement in a multiyear scheme to defraud Medicare of more than $15 million through phony hospice companies.
The bogus companies were purported to belong to foreign nationals, according to an unsealed indictment, but they actually were owned and operated by Petros Fichidzhyan, 43, of Granada Hills; Juan Carlos Esparza, 32, of Valley Village; and Karpis Srapyan, 34, of Van Nuys.
The defendants, who were taken into custody Thursday, June 6, used the foreign nationals’ identifying information to open bank accounts and sign property leases. Fichidzhyan made phone calls to Medicare, and submitted false and fraudulent claims for hospice services, prosecutors said in a statement.
Additionally, the three defendants are accused of misappropriating the identifying information of doctors who claimed to Medicare they had determined hospice services were necessary, when, in fact, the purported patients were not terminally ill and had never requested nor received care.
Fichidzhyan, Esparza and Srapyan, along with co-defendants Susanna Harutyunyan, 38, and Mihran Panosyan, 45, both of Winnetka, allegedly laundered Medicare proceeds to purchase real estate, vehicles and other items, prosecutors said.
The defendants face numerous charges, including conspiracy, health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and making false statements. Information was not immediately available regarding whether they remain in custody.
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All five face a maximum penalty of at least 40 years in prison if convicted. Fichidzhyan, Esparza and Srapyan face an additional mandatory minimum of two years behind bars on the aggravated identity theft count.
The FBI and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services investigated the case.
The indictments stem from ongoing efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice to battle hospice fraud in the Los Angeles area through its national Health Care Fraud Strike Force program, which consists of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts.
Since March 2007, the program has charged more than 5,400 defendants who have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion.
