Eduard Zavalunov, a clinic manager in Queens, New York, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and health care fraud in a $70 million scheme that bled Medicaid and Medicare dry. The Southern District of New York unmasked a sprawling fraud operation in which Zavalunov and a network of co-conspirators recruited homeless and financially desperate individuals from soup kitchens and welfare offices, pushing them through medically unnecessary tests just to file false claims.
According to the superseding indictment, Zavalunov operated alongside Victor Lipkin, Vadim Zubkov, Nokoloz Chochiev, Anatoliy Fatkhov, Mariana Swaffar, Jacqueline Pinez, Jonathan Oliver, Jason Brissett, Gilbert Trotman, and Giorgi Buleishvili in running three clinics in Brooklyn and Queens. These clinics—on Avenue V in Brooklyn and Hillside and Elmhurst Avenues in Queens—were fronts for fraud. Though staffed by unlicensed personnel, they billed insurers for sleep studies, stress tests, and other procedures that served no medical purpose other than padding criminal pockets.
Lipkin and Zubkov, the shadow owners, used a licensed physician as a pawn—nominally listing him as owner while they pulled the strings from behind shell companies. Zavalunov, though not a licensed doctor, ran day-to-day operations, violating New York law and exploiting a system meant to protect the sick. The clinics operated from 2005 through November 2014, during which time they submitted over $70 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers.
The fraud relied on human desperation. Runners like Oliver, Brissett, and Trotman scoured soup kitchens and welfare centers, handing cash to vulnerable people in exchange for their insurance details. These ‘Phony Patients’ were coached to lie on medical forms to make it seem as though tests were necessary. Some were even threatened—Chochiev allegedly used intimidation and threats of violence against those who failed to repay debts to the scheme.
Swaffar and Pinez played a critical role in the fraud, harvesting patients’ Medicaid and Medicare data and pre-clearing tests with insurers to ensure payouts. They did this knowing full well the patients were paid recruits and the tests were scams. Every step—from recruitment to billing—was calculated, cold, and criminal.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office led the takedown, stated: ‘Eduard Zavalunov has admitted to his role in this $70 million health care fraud conspiracy.’ Sentencing is pending. The case shines a light on how deeply organized fraud can infiltrate public health programs—using the poor as pawns and turning clinics into cash machines.
Related Federal Cases
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
🔒 Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
Browse More
