A California man pleaded guilty Monday to healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering in connection with a years-long scheme to defraud Medicare of more than $17 million through sham hospice companies and his home healthcare company.
According to court documents, Petros Fichidzhyan, 43, of Granada Hills, engaged in a scheme with others to operate a series of sham hospice companies. Fichidzhyan, along with co-schemers, impersonated the identities of foreign nationals to use as the purported owners of the hospices ā including using the identities to open bank accounts and sign property leases ā and submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services that were not medically necessary and not provided.
In submitting the false claims, Fichidzhyan and his co-schemers also misappropriated the identifying information of doctors, claiming to Medicare that the doctors had determined hospice services were necessary when, in fact, the purported recipients of these hospice services were not terminally ill and had never requested nor received care from the sham hospices.
As a result of the scheme, Medicare paid the sham hospices nearly $16 million. Fichidzhyan personally received nearly $7 million of the proceeds from the fraud scheme, including more than $5.3 million in transfers to his personal and business bank accounts, which were laundered through a dozen shell and third-party bank accounts.
Fichidzhyan additionally admitted to wrongfully obtaining more than $1 million for his home health care agency through the fraudulent use of a doctorās name and identifying information in certifying Medicare beneficiaries for home health care, which he attempted to cover up by paying the doctor $11,000.
Fichidzhyan pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 14 and faces a mandatory penalty of two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft charge, a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the health care fraud charge, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the money laundering charge.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Todayās guilty plea is the most recent conviction in the Justice Departmentās ongoing effort to combat hospice fraud in the greater Los Angeles area.
Last year,Ā a doctor was convicted at trialĀ for his role in a scheme to bill Medicare for hospice services patients did not need, andĀ two other defendants were sentenced forĀ their roles in a hospice fraud scheme.Ā Ā