California Doctor Sentenced to 15 Years for $45 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

A California doctor has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare of more than $45 million. Violetta Mailyan, 45, was convicted in May of nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction of a criminal investigation of a health care offense for her scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for Botox injections she never administered.

Mailyan, of Glendale, used the stolen funds to acquire five properties in California, valued at approximately $7.3 million, and two Tesla vehicles, including a Cybertruck. She also purchased luxury items such as a 17th-century crossbow and a painting.

Prosecutors stated that Mailyan operated the Healthy Way Medical Center, which offered beauty and cosmetic services. She billed Medicare for thousands of injections that were never provided. In some instances, Mailyan billed for services on days her clinic was closed or while she was on vacation in destinations including Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, and New York. One prosecution exhibit showed a photograph from Mailyan's phone of Cabo, Mexico, taken on a day she billed Medicare $34,560 for services claimed to have been rendered in Glendale.

Medicare reimburses medical providers for Botox injections used to treat chronic migraines. However, Mailyan billed and received payments for injections that were either not provided or not for migraine treatment. To conceal her activities, Mailyan falsified medical records and forged beneficiary signatures, including for an individual who was incarcerated at the time of the purported treatment. These fabricated records were submitted to investigators after Mailyan received a grand jury subpoena.

Mailyan was identified as an "extreme outlier" among Medicare providers for Botox, receiving six times more in payments than the next highest group, who were neurologists. In addition to her prison sentence, Mailyan was ordered to forfeit over $16 million in assets and pay approximately $32.9 million in restitution to Medicare. She faced a potential maximum sentence of 20 years for each wire fraud count and five years for each obstruction charge.

The Department of Justice highlighted this case as an example of efforts to combat healthcare fraud, aligning with initiatives spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance to tackle such schemes. The prosecution noted Mailyan's case serves as a striking example of Medicare fraud.