FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, August 15, 2014
Former Owner of Los Angeles Medical Clinic Management Company Pleads Guilty in $3.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
The former owner of a Los Angeles medical clinic management company pleaded guilty today in connection with his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura of the Central District of California and Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
Mihran “Mike” Meguerian, 37, of Glendale, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beverly R. O’Connell in the Central District of California to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
According to court documents, Meguerian owned Med Serve Management (Med Serve), a medical clinic management company located in Van Nuys, California. Meguerian admitted that from approximately July 2008 through February 2009, he engaged in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, in part through the operation of Med Serve. Meguerian admitted that he oversaw medical clinics that wrote prescriptions for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment (DME). Meguerian and his co-conspirators then sold the prescriptions to DME supply companies, knowing that the prescriptions were fraudulent. The DME supply companies submitted the fraudulent prescriptions to Medicare in false and fraudulent claims.
From approximately July 2008 through February 2009, DME supply companies submitted approximately $3,367,661 in fraudulent claims to Medicare using fraudulent prescriptions from Meguerian’s clinics, and Medicare paid approximately $1,438,760 for those claims. Meguerian’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 17, 2014.
This case was investigated by the FBI and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Fred Medick and Blanca Quintero of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,900 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program more than $6 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
