A federal jury has convicted a California doctor of submitting more than $45 million in false and fraudulent Medicare claims for Botox injections to fund a lavish lifestyle that included luxury vacations and the purchase of a $12,000 17th-century crossbow, according to the Justice Department.
Violetta Mailyan, 45, of Glendale, was found guilty of nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstructing a criminal investigation into a healthcare felony.
The Data Analytics Team of the Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Section identified Mailyan’s business in the Los Angeles area. According to prosecutors, an investigation revealed that she received more Medicare payments for Botox injections than any other doctor in the United States, making her an extreme outlier among medical providers.
Mailyan received approximately $24 million in the previous four years, which was six times more than the next biggest group of providers, the neurologists. “Violetta Mailyan falsely diagnosed patients, fraudulently billed Medicare for Botox injections while on luxurious vacations, and attempted to deceive federal agents with forged records,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “The Fraud Division’s data-driven approach illuminates fraud schemes nationwide, preventing any doctor from engaging in these audacious schemes to embezzle taxpayer dollars.”
In addition to attempting to scam Medicare, Mailyan allegedly manipulated medical documents in an attempt to deceive investigators. She owned and ran Healthy Way Medical Center, which billed Medicare for Botox treatments that were medically unnecessary and were never administered.
This included invoicing for injections during Mailyan’s trips to Cabo, Mexico; Maui, Hawaii; Las Vegas, Nevada; and New York.
Furthermore, some of the injections allegedly occurred on days when the clinic was closed or when the patient who supposedly received the medication was really detained in federal prison.
Medicare typically reimburses medical professionals for Botox injections when they are deemed necessary to treat verified cases of chronic migraines. However, Mailyan invoiced and received payment for thousands of injections that were either never given, given exclusively for cosmetic purposes, or given to patients whose primary care physicians had not referred them for chronic migraine treatment.
Mailyan even referred to herself on social media as a “BOTOX FILLER NONSURGICAL NOSE COSMETIC DOCTOR.”
Prosecutors allege that in order to conceal the fraud, she faked patient medical records, including consent forms, to make it appear like patients received migraine treatments in her clinic. She was accused of backdating some claims to bill for injections before patients contacted her facility to schedule an appointment.
Mailyan used the millions of dollars she got from the fraud to fund expensive vacations and purchase luxury collectibles, including a $3,000 picture of Ludwig II, crown prince of Bavaria, and a $12,000 17th-century crossbow, authorities claimed.
Mailyan is facing up to 20 years in jail for each count of wire fraud and five years for each count of obstruction. The sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
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