Rosette Gonzales
A local couple will be arraigned today in Los Angeles Superior Court
on charges of filing $5.8 million in fraudulent Medicare bills from
July 2002 to November 2004, officials said.
Sarkis Musoyan, 37, and Azatui Dilboyan, 37, were arrested Tuesday
at their Burbank home for allegedly submitting false bills in
physicians' names through offices in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Long
Beach and Huntington Beach, said Jane Robison, news secretary for Los
Angeles County District Attorney's office.
The couple would hire doctors and then use their names to file
false claims.
Musoyan and Dilboyan are being held in Los Angeles County Jail on
$6-million bail each.
They face 119 counts each of money laundering, tax fraud, grand
theft and conspiracy.
The alleged Medicare scheme was so large, it includes a special
allegation because the amount exceeds $2.5 million, Robison said.
"It could possibly enhance, if convicted, how much time they could
get," she said.
The couple could face up to 70 years in prison, according to a
district attorney's office.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Albert MacKenzie would not comment on the case
before the arraignment.
Robison could not state how long the District Attorney's Bureau of
Investigation, the Office of Inspector General-Medicare Fraud and the
Franchise Tax Board had been investigating Musoyan and Dilboyan. But
the couple's daughter said investigators had visited the house once
before in March.
"I'm shocked, ... I'm just shocked," said Irena Musoyan, 13, of
her parents' arrest. "I'm still thinking about it ... I just know
they worked. I don't think they did anything wrong."
