Pasadena Pharmacist Imprisoned In $1.3 Million Fraud Scheme

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Pasadena pharmacy owner was sentenced Monday to four years behind bars for running a Medicare fraud scheme involving more than $1.3 million in phony claims for prescription drugs.

Tamar Tatarian, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered her to pay $1.5 million in restitution to Medicare.

Tatarian was convicted of one count of health care fraud and two counts of wire fraud following a four-day jury trial in December.

From October 2015 through October 2017, the owner of Akhtamar Pharmacy engaged in a scheme involving the submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare Part D plan sponsors for prescription drugs that the pharmacy never ordered from wholesalers, and thus never dispensed to Medicare beneficiaries.

Tatarian attempted to conceal the fraud through the creation of fake invoices, reflecting wholesale drug purchases by Akhtamar Pharmacy which had, in fact, never taken place. As a result of the scheme, Tatarian through her pharmacy submitted claims to Medicare for more than $1.3 million in prescription drugs that she never purchased or dispensed to patients, according to federal prosecutors.

City News Service