Calif. imaging center manager sentenced to 8 years in prescription fraud scheme
Lianna “Lili” Ovsepian, manager and owner of Manor Medical Imaging in Glendale, Calif., has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for overseeing a $20 million scheme to fraudulently prescribe antipsychotic medication and then sell those drugs back to pharmacies through the black market.
In addition to prison time, Ovsepian was ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution to Medicare and Medi-Cal. She had entered a plea of guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit identity theft last November. Her sentence was handed down last week by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero.
Ovsepian generated thousands of fraudulent prescriptions for “patients” at Manor Medical Imaging, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The prescriptions were for unneeded and expensive antipsychotic medications that were issued by co-conspirator Kenneth Johnson, MD, who pre-signed blank prescriptions that were filled out by Nuritsa Grigoryan, Ovsepian’s mother-in-law.
After “patients” had the prescriptions filled, Manor bought the drugs back for a nominal fee before turning around and diverting them into the black market to sell to other pharmacies.
A total of 16 defendants, including several other members of Ovsepian’s family, have been convicted in connection to the scheme.
The Manor Medical Imaging case is the first alleging an organized schemed to defraud government healthcare programs with fraudulent claims for antipsychotics, and the largest of its kind in Southern California involving a fraud targeting Medicare Part D, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.