California physician ran nation’s ‘largest Botox fraud scheme,’ submitting $45 million in claims for lush way of life

More than a yr in the past, federal officers observed one thing fishy a few Glendale-based physician: she had collected extra in Medicare Botox reimbursements than another supplier within the nation.

During a four-year interval starting in 2020, Violetta Mailyan pocketed greater than $25 million for Botox injections by means of Medicare funds, greater than 5 instances what another physician made in the identical time-frame, in response to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Turns out, it was all a part of an elaborate fraud scheme that prosecutors say ignored Medicare’s guidelines for Botox protection and openly fabricated medical data, all to fund the physician’s lavish way of life.

Mailyan, 45, was convicted this week in federal courtroom, accused of submitting greater than $45 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for Botox injections and making an attempt to mislead investigators engaged on the case.

Prosecutors mentioned she submitted claims for injections “that were never provided and medically unnecessary” from 2019 by means of 2025, working as the first doctor, proprietor and operator of Healthy Way Medical Center in Glendale.

Medicare reimburses suppliers for Botox injections solely in particular circumstances, similar to for persistent migraines or extreme muscle contractions, and it should be thought of medically crucial and usually solely after different interventions haven’t labored, in response to courtroom data from the case.

Instead, prosecutors mentioned, “Mailyan billed and received payments for thousands of injections that were never provided or were provided only for cosmetic purposes.”

Mailyan additionally billed for injections carried out whereas she was out of city, together with whereas she was on trip in Cabo, Hawaii, Las Vegas and New York, and on days her clinic was closed, the discharge mentioned. She was additionally accused of billing for a Medicare affected person who was at present incarcerated in federal jail.

Patrick Grandy, the assistant director accountable for the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, known as the case the “largest Botox fraud scheme in the United States.”

“Violetta Mailyan falsely diagnosed patients, fraudulently billed for Botox injections while she was actually on lavish vacations and tried to trick federal agents with fake records,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Colin M. McDonald, who works on the Justice Department’s nationwide fraud enforcement division, mentioned in an announcement. “The Fraud Division’s data-driven approach will shine a light on fraud schemes across the country, ensuring that no doctor can engage in these types of brazen schemes to rob Medicare.”

The investigation additionally discovered that Mailyan used the Medicare funds to fund most of the holidays she took and buy luxurious collectibles similar to a $12,000 seventeenth century crossbow and a $3,000 portray, prosecutors mentioned.

The jury that convicted Mailyan additionally decided that a number of of her property had been proceeds of the fraud scheme and, subsequently, topic to forfeiture, together with a Tesla Cybertruck, 4 properties in Surfside and Glendale price greater than $7 million complete, greater than $250,000 in a number of financial institution accounts and brokerage accounts valued at $7 million, the discharge mentioned.

Mailyan was convicted of 9 counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction of a legal investigation of a well being care offense. She faces sentencing in September, with a most penalty of just about 200 years in jail — as much as 20 years for every depend of wire fraud and 5 years for every depend of obstruction.