Armenian National Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Role in Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMNPRESS: Khoren Gasparian, an Armenian national, was sentenced last Friday by Chief United States District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood. As reporets Armenpress, referring to official website of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gasparian was to sentenced 41 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud Medicare through phony medical businesses in Savannah, Georgia.

From 2008 through 2010, Gasparian and others opened medical equipment companies in Savannah, Georgia, known as Healthy Family, SOJ Group, and Savana Medical. Once opened, Gasparian and his cohorts stole the identities of hundreds of Medicare beneficiaries; stole the identities of dozens of doctors; and used this stolen information to submit hundreds of thousands of dollars in phony claims to Medicare for health care services that were never provided. Gasparian and others used the stolen identities of doctors and patients from multiple different states, including Alaska, California, New York, and Ohio and even submitted claims for people that were dead at the time they were alleged to have been provided medical equipment. Gasparian was also connected with at least two other phony health care businesses located in California and New Mexico. He was responsible for approximately $1 million worth of fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare.

“Criminals who steal from federal health care programs and taxpayers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General for the Atlanta region.

In addition to being sentenced to 41 months in prison, Gasparian was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $182,735 and to serve three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison sentence. After Gasparian finishes serving his prison sentences, he will face immigration proceedings that will likely result in his deportation to Armenia.

The prosecution of Gasparian in the Southern District of Georgia is part of a multi-jurisdictional investigation involving more than $200 million worth of phony claims submitted to Medicare. More than 35 defendants were arrested as part of this investigation.