A Granada Hills man was sentenced to a hefty 12 years behind bars for masterminding a Medicare fraud scheme that lined his pockets with millions, officials said Monday. Petros Fichidzhyan, 44, also faces three years of supervised release after completing his prison term, with the court additionally ordering him to cough up over $17 million in restitution.
According to prosecutors, Fichidzhyan's brazen scheme exploited government health care programs to the tune of $17 million, billing for hospice services that patients never needed nor received. Court documents reveal that Petros Fichidzhyan utilized the personal identifying information (PII) of foreign nationals to shroud his activities, which included opening bank accounts and leasing properties under pretenses, all the while fraudulently using deceased doctors' identities for Medicare billing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, detailed that “for years, the defendant, working with others, ran multiple sham hospice and home health care schemes,” and went on to describe the offense as one involving "layers of deception and sophisticated money laundering." The fraud not only wasted taxpayer dollars but also inflicted harm upon Medicare enrollees, underlining the substantial impact of such crimes.
Acting Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar from the Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Los Angeles Regional Office, emphasized the seriousness of the crime by stating, "Health care fraud is not a victimless crime." In a determined tone, Aybar assured the public that alongside their law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG will relentlessly pursue and bring to justice those who defraud federal health care programs. The case was primarily investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, with Assistant Director Akil Davis of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office expressing pride in their work uncovering Fichidzhyan's fraudulent activities, as the department reported.
