FEDS CRACK $20 MILLION LA MEDICARE FRAUD RING

NBC4 TV, CA
April 25 2006

Investigators Say Defendants Had Organized Crime Ties

LOS ANGELES — Five members of a Russian-Armenian organized crime ring
have been indicted in connection with a $20 million Medicare fraud
conspiracy that operated out of clinics and labs in Los Angeles,
Glendale, Van Nuys and Pasadena.

They have been charged with conspiracy, health care fraud, Medicare
kickbacks, making false statements to Medicare and money laundering,
the Daily News reported.

“This case shows how criminal organizations seek to adapt over time
to Medicare’s fraud-prevention efforts,” Assistant U.S. Attorney
Bruce Searby said in remarks reported by the newspaper. “Here, the
defendants were able to outrun the government for a while, but they
did not count on the perseverance of Medicare administrators and
federal agents whose job it is to protect this important program.”

The group allegedly was led by Konstantin Grigoryan, 56, of Altadena,
a former colonel in the Soviet army; his wife, Mayya Leonidovna
Grigoryan, 54; the Grigoryans’ son-in-law, Eduard Gershelis, 34, of
Los Angeles; Mayya Grigoryan’s brother-in-law, Aleksandr Treynker,
48, of Canoga Park; and Haroutyun Gulderyan, 36, of Tujunga, the
Daily News reported.

The Grigoryans and Gershelis have been in federal custody since their
March 21 arrests. Gulderyan and Treynker have been released on bond.

The five suspects are scheduled to appear in court June 13. They were
indicted Thursday.

In court documents, Searby wrote that the case is connected to
Russian-Armenian organized crime that gutted Medicare of more than $20
million using a network of clinics, paid kickbacks to marketers for
patient referrals and billed Medicare for tests that were unnecessary
or went undelivered, the Daily News reported.