Granada Hills Man Guilty In $17M Sham Hospice Medicare Fraud

LOS ANGELES — A San Fernando Valley man pleaded guilty Monday to healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering in connection with a years-long scheme to defraud Medicare of over $17 million, according to authorities.

Petros Fichidzhyan, 43, of Granada Hills, took part in a plan with others to run a series of sham hospice companies, impersonating foreign nationals and using the identities to open bank accounts and sign leases as the purported hospice owners, and submitting false claims to Medicare for services that weren’t medically necessary or provided, authorities said.

Medicare paid the sham hospices nearly $16 million, and Fichidzhyan received nearly $7 million, including more than $5.3 million in transfers to his bank accounts, laundered through a dozen shell and third-party accounts, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He also admitted to obtaining over $1 million for his home healthcare agency through fraudulent use of a doctor’s information in certifying Medicare beneficiaries, and paid the doctor $11,000 as an attempted cover-up, authorities said.

Fichidzhyan is set to be sentenced April 14 and faces up to 20 years in prison for the charge with the highest possible penalty — money laundering, according to the department.