Johnson, Kenneth, $20M Health Care Fraud, California 2023

LOS ANGELES – Three people linked to a Glendale medical clinic were found guilty today of federal fraud charges related to a $20 million scheme to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal by fraudulently prescribing expensive anti-psychotic medications and re-billing the government for those drugs over and over.

The defendants, Dr. Kenneth Johnson, 47, of Ladera Heights, Nuritsa Grigoryan, 49, of Glendale, and Artak Ovsepian, 32, of Tujunga, were convicted of health care fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to misbrand pharmaceutical drugs, false statements to the federal government, and conspiracy to use other persons’ identification documents in furtherance of fraud.

The evidence presented at trial showed how the operators of Manor Medical Imaging in Glendale operated a clinic authorized to make claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal, employed an unlicensed medical practitioner to write bogus prescriptions using an American doctor’s name and license number, and had close relationships with pharmacies and a fraudulent drug wholesale company that were used to funnel prescription drugs back to the pharmacies participating in the scheme.

The scheme generated fraudulent billings of more than $20 million dollars, of which Medi-Cal and Medicare actually paid more than $8 million.

“The defendants took advantage of this nation’s most vulnerable citizens and took millions of dollars from public health care programs that are designed to help the disadvantaged,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “Members of this scheme caused thousands of bottles of dangerous prescription drugs to be diverted to the black market. This case is an example of how operators of health care fraud schemes will be brought to justice, whether they be doctors who enable the fraud or those on the street who recruit patients and divert prescription drugs to the black market.”

The three defendants were convicted of a scheme that preyed upon the poor, using them as pawns, said United States District Judge S. James Otero, who presided over the three-week trial.

Ovsepian and Grigoryan are scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, while Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on June 30.

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