The feds have charged 73 defendants, including dozens of reputed members and associates of the transnational Armenian crime group known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian, for their alleged roles in a multi-state $163 million billing fraud scheme against Medicare according to an FBI press release:
According to the indictments, the defendants allegedly stole the identities of doctors and thousands of Medicare beneficiaries and operated at least 118 different phony clinics in 25 states for the purposes of submitting Medicare reimbursements. "The emergence of international organized crime in domestic health care fraud schemes signals a dangerous expansion that poses a serious threat to consumers as these syndicates are willing to exploit almost any program, business or individual to earn an illegal profit," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grinder.
According to the allegations contained in the indictment the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian "is named for its principal leaders, Davit Mirzoyan and Robert Terdjanian." Its leadership "is based in Los Angeles and New York" although "its operations extend throughout the United States and internationally." Among those indicted is Armen Kazarian who is an alleged "Vor" or "thief-in-law" which is characterized by the FBI as "a member of a select group of high-level criminals from Russia and the countries that has been part of the former Soviet Union, including Armenia."
