3 Indicted in Kickback Scheme Involving Medicare Fees to Lab
Two San Fernando Valley men and one from Beverly Hills have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they received more than $15,000 in kickbacks on Medicare laboratory tests.
Indicted Wednesday were David Smushkevich, 36, of Encino; Lazar Berkovich, 36, of Studio City and Yan Kats, 39, of Beverly Hills, operators of the AAPA Family Health Clinic in Rialto.
They were accused of receiving 50% of the Medicare fees obtained by a Norwalk lab for testing blood and urine samples sent by the clinic, Assistant U. S. Atty. Brian Hennigan said.
The men, all immigrants from the Soviet Union, were arrested Thursday and were being held on $50,000 bail at Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary.
The alleged kickback scheme occurred over seven months, Hennigan said. The men are also accused of threatening the lab’s owner with a gun, he said.
The lab’s owner, Lauro Manigbas, was indicted Thursday on suspicion of paying a kickback but he was not arrested, Hennigan said.
Arraignment for the three men is scheduled for Monday in Los Angeles federal court.
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