A Glendale doctor who fraudulently billed more than $45 million in Botox injections to Medicare and used the proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison.
Violetta Mailyan, 45, was convicted in May of nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction of an investigation of a healthcare offense, as she attempted to mislead federal agents. Prosecutors said Mailyan was involved in an elaborate fraud scheme that ignored Medicare’s rules for Botox coverage and brazenly fabricated medical records.
Mailyan was the owner-operator of Healthy Way Medical Center, a clinic that claimed to provide beauty and cosmetic services, according to the Department of Justice press office. A federal probe by the Office of Inspector General and the FBI presented evidence that found Mailyan billed and received Medicare payments for thousands of Botox injections that were never provided.
“Mailyan also billed for providing Botox injections when she was actually on vacation in Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, and New York at various times throughout her fraud scheme,” the Justice Department said. “For example, Mailyan billed over $200,000 for purportedly providing Botox services to patients in California when she was actually relaxing on the beach in Cabo.”
Prosecutors said when federal investigators were closing in, Mailyan falsified medical records and forged Medicare beneficiary signatures, including for a man in federal prison during the time the doctor claimed to have provided treatment.
The investigation also found that Mailyan used the Medicare payments to fund many of the vacations she took and purchase luxury collectibles such as a $12,000 17th-century crossbow and a $3,000 painting, prosecutors said.
The jury that convicted Mailyan also determined that several of her assets were proceeds of the fraud scheme and subject to forfeiture, including a Tesla Cybertruck, four properties in Surfside and Glendale worth more than $7 million total, more than $250,000 in multiple bank accounts and brokerage accounts valued at $7 million, according to the Justice Department.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered the immediate forfeiture of more than $16 million worth of property seized from Mailyan, including real property, personal property and securities, and to pay $32 million in restitution to Medicare.
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