Armenian network members charged with US healthcare scam

It’s been reported that the accused are a network of American gangsters and their associates, who set up fake clinics using stolen identities to make false claims for treatment.

An estimated $35 million was paid out.

The group, most members of which are of Armenian origin, has been accused of setting up around 118 clinics across the US, most of which only existed on paper.

A US attorney Preet Bharar said most of them were “nothing more than shams, shells and storefronts,” and that the scheme’s scope and sophistication put the traditional mafia to shame.

The group allegedly stole the identities of real doctors and beneficiaries of Medicare, the US federal insurance programme for the elderly, and "submitted bill after bill for treatment that no doctor ever performed and that no patient ever received," he added.

In addition, the gang was accused of carrying out "a raft of rackets, extortion, credit card fraud, identity theft, immigration fraud, and even the distribution of contraband cigarettes and stolen Viagra".

A lot of the paperwork involved also raised questions, after it was shown that dermatologists gave heart examinations and ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialists performed pregnancy ultrasounds.

Most of the accused were arrested during raids in New York City and Los Angeles yesterday morning, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio. The 73 people charged are accused of racketeering and related offences.

The alleged leader of the gang, Armen Kazarian, has been put in a mafia jail. He was described by officials as equivalent to a mafia godfather.

"In terms of profitability, geographic scope, and sheer ambition, this emerging international organised crime syndicate would be the envy of any traditional mafia family," Bharar said.