Second man sentenced in Huntington Memorial Hospital fraud scheme

A second man who played a key role in defrauding Huntington Memorial Hospital of millions during a large renovation project was sentenced Monday to 18 months in a federal prison.

Alexander Svidler, 54, who owns a Bay Area construction firm, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of mail fraud for his role in defrauding the hospital out of $2.3 million via false invoices and billing statements and was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

In a deal with then-Huntington construction director David Hamedany, of Glendale, prosecutors said Svidler kept 10% of the gains and returned the remaining 90% to Hamedany.

Svidler also had a deal with Hamedany’s brother, Tony Hamedany, to bilk the owners of Columbus Manufacturing in the Bay Area, according to prosecutors.

In January, David Hamedany was sentenced to three years in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $4.8 million. As part of that restitution, he transferred ownership of his personal residence to Huntington Memorial — in addition to relinquishing claims to vehicles and roughly $500,000 seized last year from a bank account, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Tony Hamedany pleaded guilty to fraud related to the Bay Area work in October 2011 and is slated to be sentenced next month.

The amount of restitution Svidler must pay has not been determined by the court. But he has already returned some $850,000 to Huntington Memorial Hospital and $500,000 to Columbus Manufacturing, according to prosecutors.

-- Bill Kisliuk and Veronica Rocha

Follow Bill Kisliuk on Twitter: @bkisliuk