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Press Release

Participant In $100 Million Medicare Fraud Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To 135 Months In Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York



Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that HERAYER BAGHOUMIAN was sentenced today to 135 months in prison for his role in a $100 million massive Medicare fraud scheme. BAGHOUMIAN pled guilty to racketeering in March 2012, and was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “With today’s sentence, Herayer Baghoumian becomes the latest defendant who took part in this widespread fraud to be punished for his conduct. At a time when the Medicare trust fund is under great strain, his conduct is particularly egregious.”

According to the Indictment and other documents filed in this case:

From 2006 through 2010, BAGHOUMIAN and others participated in a nationwide Medicare scam that fraudulently billed Medicare for over $100 million. As part of the conspiracy, the defendant created dozens of “phantom clinic” health care providers that existed only on paper, had no doctors, and treated no patients. The scheme involved at least 118 fraudulent Medicare providers that were located in approximately 25 states, and that submitted fraudulent bills for at least approximately $100 million, and received approximately $35.7 million in reimbursements from Medicare.

In addition to his prison term, Judge Gardephe sentenced BAGHOUMIAN, 57, of Burbank, California, to three years of supervised release, and imposed a $100 special assessment fee. Judge Gardephe also ordered BAGHOUMIAN to forfeit $472,545, and property he acquired with the proceeds of the crime, including two homes in California and a Maserati.

Of the 28 defendants charged in U.S. v. Armen Kazarian, et al., 16 have now been sentenced. Six others have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Charges have been dismissed against one defendant, and remain pending against five defendants. The charges pending against the five outstanding defendants are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Mr. Bharara thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for their work in the investigation.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Burns and Harris Fischman are in charge of the prosecution.


Updated May 13, 2015

Press Release Number: 13-129