A Medicare fraud scheme run by a Southern California duo involved several local medical facilities, foreign nationals, fake bank accounts and the laundering of millions of dollars with gold in a Glendale apartment, prosecutors say.
Sophia Shaklian, 36, a Larchmont area resident, and Alex Alexsanian, 47, of Burbank, are accused of submitting more than $54 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for hospice services and testing. diagnosis that was never provided, and then illegally laundered the $23 million they received. reimbursements, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the indictment.
As part of the scheme, approximately $6 million in gold bars and coins were purchased and moved to an apartment located a few blocks from the Americana at Brand in Glendale, according to the indictment.
The duo was arrested Wednesday and charged with a total of 24 counts by a federal grand jury in connection with incidents that occurred over the past five years.
Shaklian, who often used pseudonyms, submitted health insurance claims on behalf of seven Los Angeles County health care providers, including a hospice company she owned, Chateau d’Lumina Hospice and Palliative Care in Pasadena, prosecutors said.
Shaklian and his co-conspirators submitted requests for services on behalf of beneficiaries “who, in fact, never received such services, had no need for them, and did not even know the fraudulent providers,” the spokesperson wrote -spokesperson for the US Attorney, Ciaran McEvoy, in the press release. release. Claims worth $54 million were submitted from March 2019 to August 2024.
Shaklian allegedly laundered part of the $23 million in Medicare reimbursements by transferring them to accounts held in the name of a false identity, prosecutors said.
Alexsanian is accused of ordering a foreign national, described as a Ukrainian citizen who later left the country, to open a medical facility in Sylmar and acquire a permanent practice in Van Nuys, two of the locations for which Shaklian submitted false statements, according to the prosecution. Alexsanian then asked the Ukrainian to give him control of the establishment’s bank accounts, prosecutors said.
Alexsanian is accused of conspiring with the foreign national and others to then launder Medicare reimbursements to buy gold bars and coins, prosecutors said.
Shaklian was charged with 16 counts of health care fraud and four counts of transactional money laundering after an investigation by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Social Services and the FBI, the statement said. Alexsanian is charged with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and three counts of concealment of money laundering.
