Couple accused of Medicare fraud

Rosette Gonzales

A local couple will be arraigned today in Los Angeles Superior Court

on charges of filing $5.8 million in fraudulent Medicare bills from

July 2002 to November 2004, officials said.

Sarkis Musoyan, 37, and Azatui Dilboyan, 37, were arrested Tuesday

at their Burbank home for allegedly submitting false bills in

physicians’ names through offices in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Long

Beach and Huntington Beach, said Jane Robison, news secretary for Los

Angeles County District Attorney’s office.

The couple would hire doctors and then use their names to file

false claims.

Musoyan and Dilboyan are being held in Los Angeles County Jail on

$6-million bail each.

They face 119 counts each of money laundering, tax fraud, grand

theft and conspiracy.

The alleged Medicare scheme was so large, it includes a special

allegation because the amount exceeds $2.5 million, Robison said.

“It could possibly enhance, if convicted, how much time they could

get,” she said.

The couple could face up to 70 years in prison, according to a

district attorney’s office.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Albert MacKenzie would not comment on the case

before the arraignment.

Robison could not state how long the District Attorney’s Bureau of

Investigation, the Office of Inspector General-Medicare Fraud and the

Franchise Tax Board had been investigating Musoyan and Dilboyan. But

the couple’s daughter said investigators had visited the house once

before in March.

“I’m shocked, ... I’m just shocked,” said Irena Musoyan, 13, of

her parents’ arrest. “I’m still thinking about it ... I just know

they worked. I don’t think they did anything wrong.”