FEDS SAY RUSSIAN/ARMENIAN MOB'S FRAUD RING BUSTED.Byline: Jason Kandel Staff WriterFive members of a Russian-Armenian organized crime ring have been indicted INDICTED, practice. When a man is accused by a bill of indictment preferred by a grand jury, he is said to be indicted. in connection with a $20 million Medicare fraud Medicare fraud Medifraud Medical practice Any unlawful act which results in the inappropriate billing of Medicare for services by a health care provider–eg, physicians, hospitals and affiliated providers. See Medicare. conspiracy that operated out of clinics and labs in L.A., Glendale, Van Nuys and Pasadena, authorities said Monday. They have been charged with conspiracy, health care fraud, Medicare kickbacks, making false statements to Medicare and money laundering The process of taking the proceeds of criminal activity and making them appear legal. Laundering allows criminals to transform illegally obtained gain into seemingly legitimate funds. . ``This case shows how criminal organizations seek to adapt over time to Medicare's fraud-prevention efforts,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Searby said. ``Here, the defendants were able to outrun out·run tr.v. out·ran , out·run, out·run·ning, out·runs 1. a. To run faster than. b. To escape from: outrun one's creditors. 2. the government for a while, but they did not count on the perseverance of Medicare administrators and federal agents whose job it is to protect this important program.'' The group allegedly was led by Konstantin Grigoryan, 56, of Altadena, a former colonel in the Soviet army; his wife, Mayya Leonidovna Grigoryan, 54; the Grigoryans' son-in-law, Eduard Gershelis, 34, of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. ; Mayya Grigoryan's brother-in-law, Aleksandr Treynker, 48, of Canoga Park; and Haroutyun Gulderyan, 36, of Tujunga. The Grigoryans and Gershelis have been in federal custody since their March 21 arrests. Gulderyan and Treynker have been released on bond. The five suspects are scheduled to appear in court June 13. They were indicted Thursday. In court documents, Searby wrote that the case is connected to Russian- Armenian organized crime that gutted Medicare of more than $20 million using a network of clinics, paid kickbacks to marketers for patient referrals and billed Medicare for tests that were unnecessary or went undelivered undelivered adj → no entregado al destinatario; if undelivered return to sender → en caso de no llegar a su destino devolver al, remitente undelivered . Gershelis' parents were doctors in Ukraine, and he studied to be a dental technician dental technician n. A person who makes dental appliances and restorative devices, such as bridges or dentures, to the specifications of a dentist. in Russia, said his attorney, Jerome Mooney. Gershelis and his wife immigrated to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. in 1994, where they became naturalized citizens NATURALIZED CITIZEN. One who, being born an alien, has lawfully become a citizen of the United States Under the constitution and laws. 2. He has all the rights of a natural born citizen, except that of being eligible as president or vice-president of the United and had a daughter. ``Mr. Gershelis and his wife are hard-working people who established their roots in Los Angeles and learned the language,'' Mooney said. ``This is a very unfortunate circumstance.'' Attorneys for the other defendants did not return phone calls seeking comment. Court records provide the following details about the case: Between 1997 and 2005, the group hired doctors to work at their clinics so they could legitimately enroll in the Medicare program. They then hired recruiters to fan out across the state and pay patients with Medicare benefits to come to the clinics and submit to unnecessary medical procedures. The suspects allegedly concealed the source of their incomes by funneling the money through a maze of ``management'' and ``consulting'' firms, wiring the money to Armenian and Swiss bank accounts, and buying residential and commercial real estate. The case grew out of excerpts from a recording made by a cooperating witness in an FBI investigation in 2000 and 2001. jason.kandel@dailynews.com (818) 546-3306 The revelations, as reported in your story, is disturbing and shocking. U.S. media has long reported on the culture of corruption in the Republic of Armenia and its negative effect on the U.S., including the widespread fleecing of American business people, as well as scams emanating from Armenia to “obtain” Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement dollars and U.S. aid dollars. This newest transgression of pervasive fraud further must be a wakeup call to Armenian leadership to address their culture of corruption. KSS
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US media has long record of anti Armenian propaganda. I am not criminal and I am Armenian. It is offensive when they present the story as if Armenians are criminals. There are criminals among every nation. You don’t regard to whole nation as to criminals because of some elements. This is racial profiling against Armenian people. Do you remember Madoff who have stolen billions, not millions? I don’t remember the media calling him Jewish thief. The just called him by his name. Do you remember news about German citizen who did it with his own daughter in the basement for 16 years or so? Does it mean that all Germans are pedophiles? You people are brainwashed by anti Armenian media to hate Armenians. There are many Armenians that done good things for this world. But if you want to hate, you will ignore good and only focused on bad. It’s like a dog mind that is trained to respond to certain commands; US media train population to hate Armenians.
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