California imaging clinics at center of $54M Medicare fraud scandal
Several imaging clinics are at the center of an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare out of tens of millions of dollars.
An Oct. 9 release from the Department of Justice details the attempts of Sophia Shaklian, 36, from the Los Angeles area, and Alex Alexsanian, 47, of Burbank to bill Medicare for over $50 million in diagnostic tests that were never actually performed. The release indicates that the individuals laundered their profits “by buying millions of dollars’ worth of gold bars and coins.”
The two would commonly use aliases to file fraudulent claims for multiple healthcare facilities, including one hospice care facility and several diagnostic imaging centers, across LA County. More than $54 million in fraudulent claims that were either unnecessary or never completed were submitted to Medicare between March 2019 and February 2024—the duo collected over $23 million from those claims.
“Shaklian allegedly laundered Medicare funds paid to Chateau [d’Lumina Hospice and Palliative Care] by transferring them to accounts in the name of 'Varsenic Babaian,' a synthetic or fake identity,” the DOJ said.
For Alexsanian's part, it is alleged that he conspired with a foreign national to open a diagnostic imaging clinic (Saint George Radiology) and to buy out Medicare provider Console Hospice in Van Nuys. This person gave Alexsanian control of the companies and their financial accounts. Alexsanian and this individual were responsible for filing the fraudulent claims and then transferring the reimbursements they received to their accounts through Shaklian’s alias, Babaian.
More than $6 million of those reimbursements was used to purchase gold bars and coins.
Shaklian is charged with 16 counts of healthcare fraud and four counts of transactional money laundering, while Alexsanian faces one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and three counts of concealment money laundering, according to the DOJ.
If convicted, Shaklian could be sentenced to up to 10 years of prison for each count of healthcare fraud and 20 years for each count of money laundering. Alexsanian could face up to 20 years in prison for each count.
Both were arrested Oct. 9.
The impacted facilities are listed in the DOJ's release.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.