A California hospice operator has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for participating in a nearly $16 million fraud and money laundering scheme, federal authorities announced.
Karpis Srapyan, 35, along with Petros Fichidzhyan and Juan Carlos Esparza, operated four fake hospice companies that were allegedly owned by foreign nationals, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The group submitted false Medicare claims for services that were either never rendered or medically unnecessary.
Srapyan pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit money laundering and health care fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, a federal court ordered him to pay $3.2 million in restitution to Medicare, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
“Srapyan and his co-defendants concealed the scheme by using foreign nationals’ personal identifying information to open bank accounts, submit information to Medicare, and sign property leases,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “They also misappropriated names and other identifying information of several doctors, two of whom were deceased, to fraudulently bill Medicare for purported hospice services.”
Investigators said Srapyan and his partners spent the stolen funds on real estate, vehicles, and luxury goods.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and prosecuted by the Justice Department’s criminal division.
In total, five individuals were charged in connection with the fraudulent billing and money laundering scheme. Besides Srapyan, Fichidzhyan, and Esparza, the conspirators included Susanna Harutyunyan and Mihran Panosyan.
Fichidzhyan previously pleaded guilty to health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May.
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