LOS ANGELES, CA — Mihran Panosyan, 46, of Winnetka, pleaded guilty Monday to laundering over $4.6 million in a sophisticated Medicare fraud scheme involving fake hospice companies, federal prosecutors announced.
Panosyan, also known as Mike Hope, admitted to working with several co-conspirators to defraud Medicare of nearly $16 million. The group used stolen identities of Russian and Ukrainian nationals to create fraudulent hospice businesses, prosecutors said.
The scheme involved opening bank accounts, leasing office space, and submitting fake claims to Medicare for hospice care that was never provided. According to court records, the services were neither requested nor medically necessary.
As part of his plea agreement, Panosyan has been ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution and surrender assets acquired with illicit funds — including a 2019 Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63 S.
Panosyan’s co-defendant, Petros Fichidzhyan, was sentenced in February to 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.
Three more defendants — including a married couple and several of their relatives — are scheduled to stand trial on July 29. Prosecutors outlined that the scheme had three stages: stealing identities, billing Medicare for false hospice care, and laundering the profits through shell companies and personal purchases.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the sham hospice companies collected nearly $16 million from Medicare before the operation was uncovered.
Panosyan used the fraud proceeds to fund personal luxuries, including private school tuition for his child and real estate investments.
