San Fernando Valley man admits to laundering millions of dollars obtained in a Medicare fraud scheme

LOS ANGELES — A San Fernando Valley man pleaded guilty Monday to laundering more than $4.6 million in connection with a years-long scheme to defraud Medicare of nearly $16 million through sham hospice companies.

Mihran Panosyan, 46, of Winnetka worked with others to launder the proceeds of a massive Medicare fraud scheme, transferring the fraudulently obtained funds between multiple accounts before spending them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Panosyan pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles to a federal charge of money laundering and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 8, at which time he will face up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Panosyan’s co-defendant, Petros Fichidzhyan, previously pleaded guilty to charges of health care fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering, and was sentenced to a dozen years in prison. Trial against the other three defendants in the case is scheduled to begin July 29.

Prosecutors said the scheme comprised three parts. First, three of Panosyan’s co-defendants used the identities of foreign nationals no longer in the United States to operate several sham hospice companies. They maintained fraudulent identification documents, bank accounts, checkbooks, and credit and debit cards in the names of purported foreign owners.

Second, the co-defendants caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services for patients who were not terminally ill and who never requested nor received hospice services. As a result, Medicare paid the sham hospices nearly $16 million, the DOJ said.

Third, Panosyan and his co-defendants laundered the proceeds of the scheme to conceal the source of the funds and their control over them. Panosyan transferred proceeds of the Medicare fraud between accounts in the names of the purported foreign owners, the sham hospices, and other shell corporations, laundering more than $4.6 million in fraudulently obtained funds that he used to purchase real estate, pay for private school for his minor child and pay for other personal expenses, according to the DOJ.