California man sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in connection with $17m Medicare fraud schemes

California man sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in connection with $17m Medicare fraud schemes 
U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Public Affairs; Press Release; 2/6/25 
A California man was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in a years-long scheme to defraud Medicare of more than $17 million through sham hospice companies and his home health care company. According to court documents, Petros Fichidzhyan, 44, of Granada Hills, schemed with others to bill Medicare for hospice services that were not medically necessary and never provided. Fichidzhyan and his co-schemers controlled hospice entities and used foreign nationals’ personal identifying information (PII) to conceal the scheme, using the PII to, among other things, open bank accounts, submit information to Medicare, and sign property leases.