A San Fernando Valley man pleaded guilty Monday to his role in defrauding Medicare of nearly $16 million through sham hospice companies and laundering the illicit proceeds.
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Juan Carlos Esparza, 33, of Valley Village, pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles to federal charges of health care fraud and transactional money laundering and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Previously, Karpis Srapyan, 35, and Susanna Harutyunyan, 39, both of Winnetka, pleaded guilty to charges in the case.
According to court documents, Esparza, Srapyan and Petros Fichidzhyan worked together to bill Medicare for hospice services that were not medically necessary and never provided.
The defendants employed four sham hospice companies: one owned by Esparza and the other three owned by foreign nationals but controlled by the defendants, according to court documents.
The group concealed the scheme by using foreign nationals' personal information to open bank accounts, submit information to Medicare and sign property leases, according to the DOJ.
They also used names and personal information of several doctors -- two of them dead -- to fraudulently bill Medicare for purported hospice services, prosecutors said. In total, Medicare paid the fake hospice companies nearly $16 million, according to the DOJ.
Federal prosecutors said Harutyunyan was aware that her husband and co- defendant Mihran Panosyan was involved in illegal activity with Srapyan and Fichidzhyan. As part of the money laundering scheme, Harutyunyan and the co- defendants maintained fraudulent identification documents, bank documents, checkbooks, and credit and debit cards in the names of purported foreign owners in the residence where she and Panosyan lived and another residence that was owned in her name, according to the DOJ.
Srapyan conducted dozens of transactions, totaling nearly $3.2 million, moving funds between accounts in the names of the sham hospice companies, accounts in the names of foreign nationals that were controlled by the defendants, and other accounts involved in the money laundering scheme. According to the DOJ, Harutyunyan spent proceeds of the scheme on personal expenses, including payments for a BMW automobile.
Srapyan pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 6. Harutyunyan pleaded guilty to money laundering and is set for sentencing Nov. 17. She faces deportation, the DOJ said.
Co-defendant Fichidzhyan previously pleaded guilty to health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. In May, he was sentenced to a dozen years in federal prison. Panosyan pleaded guilty to money laundering in June and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.
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