Calabasas Pharmacy Owner and Los Angeles Associate Sentenced for Roles in Medicare Fraud Scheme

In a recent crackdown on health care fraud, Irina Sadovsky, a 54-year-old pharmacist and owner of Five Star RX in Calabasas, and her associate Shahriar “Michael” Kalantari, 56, from Los Angeles, faced sentencing for their roles in a scheme that defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal. The verdict, delivered earlier this month, saw Sadovsky receive a sentence of two years and three months in prison, while Kalantari will serve one year and 11 months, according to the Office of Public Affairs.

The duo was involved in creating fraudulent claims to insurance programs for prescription drugs that were not given to patients, instead, they were sold illegally on the black market. From September 2016 to April 2017, Sadovsky and Kalantari exploited the system by generating false prescriptions for high-cost medications, including those used to treat HIV, as per the Office of Public Affairs. Trial evidence and court documents revealed that Sadovsky not only recommended which prescription drugs should be falsely written but also checked patient eligibility for reimbursements for these non-dispensed drugs. Kalantari, although not a medical professional, contributed to the fraud by using stolen beneficiary information to aid in writing counterfeit prescriptions.

The successful prosecutions were the result of collective efforts led by the FBI, and HHS-OIG, with the aid of the California Department of Justice. Charges were managed by Counsel Alexis Gregorian and Trial Attorney Matthew Belz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, as detailed by the Office of Public Affairs. The Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, part of the Fraud Section's initiative to combat health care fraud, has been actively pursuing cases similar to this since March 2007, leading to over 5,400 defendants being charged for fraudulent claims amounting to more than $27 billion. Following the cases' development, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in collaboration with HHS-OIG, are taking action to hold providers who engage in healthcare fraud schemes accountable for their misconduct.