The owner of Beltline Medical Supplies, Inc., formerly in Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty last week to charges of aggravated identity theft.
According to plea documents filed in the case, Rafayel Movsesyan, 38, a resident of Los Angeles, California, opened Beltline Medical Supplies, Inc. in Dallas in 2007 and submitted more than $1,028,000 in false claims to the Medicare program. According to an announcement of the plea by U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, Movsesyan faces a statutory penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced. The sentencing date has not yet been announced.
Documents filed in the case reveal that Movsesyan’s fraudulent Medicare claims, primarily for orthotic braces and supplies, falsely represented that the items had been prescribed and provided to the Medicare beneficiaries located in Ohio, California, South Texas, Florida, and other states. In reality, no items were ever ordered or provided. Additionally, Movsesyan’s claims falsely stated that multiple physicians had examined such beneficiaries and ordered these items, when in fact, the patients and physicians were wholly unknown to each other and no examinations had ever occurred. Movsesyan’s unlawful use of the names and Medicare numbers of patients and physicians led to the charges of aggravated identity theft. Medicare issued payments to Beltline Medical totaling more than $325,000 as a result of Movsesyan’s fraudulent claims.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas