Two California residents have pled guilty in relation to a hospice fraud case that cost Medicare around $16 million, according to a press release published by the Department of Justice on July 8.  
 
Karpis Srapyan and Susanna Harutyunyan, along with three other co-defendants who pled separately, were accused of money laundering after several of the co-defendants billed Medicare under four fake hospice agencies in recent years.  
 
The DOJ noted that the fraudsters used foreign nationals’ identifying information to open bank accounts and sign leases, as well as the names and information of several doctors to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary care or services that were never provided.  
 
Srapyan, who pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering, could face up to 20 years in prison. Harutyunyan, who was not directly involved in the creation of the sham hospices but knowingly spent fraudulent funds, could be sentenced to a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for money laundering. She also faces deportation.