Property Crimes

Published on: May 8, 2013

Three Years in Prison for $3 Million Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Case

A 50-year-old Calabasas man, Dr. Pezhman Ebrahimzadeh, was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars for falsely billing Medicare for over $3 million.

As penance for perpetrating healthcare fraud in Los Angeles, Dr. Ebrahimzadeh has been ordered to pay over $3 million in restitution, for his part in billing Medicare for medical services that he never performed. In many cases, these services involved patients who were no longer alive. Ebrahimzadeh – also known as Pez Abrahams – owns a cosmetic clinic called the Winnetka Medical Group, which provides liposuction and radiofrequency laser treatments.

Federal prosecutors say he collected information from beneficiaries to bill Medicare for never-performed procedures. He also collected information from 25 Medicare patients who were dead when they supposedly “got treated,” and then he changed medical records to conceal the Los Angeles Medicare fraud. He claimed he performed a bunch of pricey procedures, including radiotherapy catheter placement, bone tumor ablation, and revascularization, even though he lacked the equipment to do these procedures.

Published on: May 6, 2013

Los Angeles Petty Theft News: Elderly Woman’s Theft Trial Costs Nearly 30 Times the Value of the Object She Stole

by Michael Kraut

The courts have financial incentive to avoid dealing with trivial Los Angeles petty theft cases.

Here’s a bold illustration why.

Up in Monterey, 75-year-old Lilia Estoesta just got convicted of a single petty theft charge for stealing $60 worth of jewelry. The cost of the trial – just for the translator! – exceeded $2,000.

Published on: April 25, 2013

Convicted of Los Angeles Medicare Fraud, 37-year-old Tigran Aklyan May Face 10 Years Behind Bars…

by Michael Kraut

Thirty-seven-year-old Tigran Aklyan recently pled guilty to Los Angeles Medicare fraud charges, say officials.

Aklyan, the ex-owner of a San Gabriel medical equipment company, admitted that he conspired to defraud Medicare. He faces a maximum fine of $250,000 on top of a decade behind bars.

Aklyan owned Las Tunas Medical Equipment Inc., a company that sold medical equipment and power wheelchairs. From fall 2007 through spring 2009, Aklyan submitted false claims to Medicare for equipment and unneeded wheelchairs. He submitted over $910,000 in false claims and recouped over $650,000 from Medicare.

Published on: April 17, 2013

Not So Petty Theft in Southern California Riles up San Bernardino Residents: Skateboarder Snatches Girl Scout Cookie Money

by Michael Kraut

If you tried to design a Los Angeles petty theft crime that would make you look like a classic “bad guy,” you’d have a hard time beating this guy.

According to NBC Los Angeles, a skateboarder recently stole over $400 worth of cookie money from a local Girl Scout troop that had been stationed outside a grocery store in San Bernardino County. Deputies later stopped and arrested 20-year-old Colin Sawyer, after they saw footage of the theft on NBC4 news.

Girl Scout troop 1303 had been selling cookies outside of a Stater Brothers store in Phelan all day. They were folding up for the day, when the thief snatched their money and took off. A young Girl Scout, who gave her name as Victoria, ran after him. But she fell and got scraped up. She told reporters “My sister put the money on the table, and as fast as he can, he took the money and ran off… my first instinct was to run after him.”

Published on: April 15, 2013

The Deeper (And Far Less Petty) Roots of Your Los Angles Petty Theft Charge

by Michael Kraut

Maybe you’ve personally been hit with a misdemeanor Los Angeles petty theft charge. Or maybe you’re the parent or friend of someone who recently got arrested for shoplifting or stealing small amounts of jewelry.

In either case, you might be extremely tempted to treat this situation as a “one-time event” — a cautionary tale that you can look back on, in 20 or 30 years, and laugh about with your friends at the Country Club. After all, it’s not like you committed grand theft in Los Angeles or hurt someone while driving under the influence of alcohol or engineered a complex Southern California Medicare or MediCal scheme.

You made one mistake — perhaps motivated by peer pressure or just by a strange impulse — and you want to fight the charges and put this ugly event behind you.

Published on: April 10, 2013

After Your Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Arrest: Are You on the Flywheel or the “Doom Loop”?

by Michael Kraut

Ever since authorities began investigating you for Medicare fraud in Southern California, you’ve been overwhelmed, uncertain, and scared for your reputation and your family’s future.

Life, it seems, has taken an unexpected and decidedly unwelcome turn.

Given your hectic state of affairs, you might be laboring under some false assumptions about the trajectory of your life and welfare. In other words, all the legal chaos may bias you into believing that things are “getting worse” or “will get worse” for you.

Published on: April 1, 2013

Los Angeles Petty Theft Cases Can Get Quite Strange. (But This Story Out of Wisconsin Has to be One of the Strangest Yet of 2013)

by Michael Kraut

Los Angeles petty theft cases are often curious — not just because of the legal complexities and the “drama” — but also because of the fascinating “stuff” people choose to steal.

For instance, in 2012, it suddenly became very popular for people to steal bottles of Tide and then sell the detergent on the black market.

Because of the diversity of items that people steal — and the diversity of schemes pulled off — every theft defense case is different.

Published on: March 29, 2013

Very Weird Case Out of New York — Will Your Los Angeles Medicare Fraud Case Be As Bizarre?

by Michael Kraut

Even “straightforward” Los Angeles Medicare fraud schemes often become surprisingly dynamic.

Perhaps you and an associate billed the state or federal government for wheelchairs that you never delivered to patients. Or maybe you constructed a scheme to collect Social Security numbers and patient data and then use that information to purchase pharmaceuticals to sell to a third market supplier.

Even the most carefully wrought, well-protected plans have a funny way of coming undone and leading to surprises not only for investigators but also for defendants themselves.

Published on: March 25, 2013

Ridiculous Los Angeles Petty Theft News: Lemur Theft Played Out “Like a Bad Disney Movie”

by Michael Kraut

In all likelihood, your Los Angeles petty theft charges are pretty dry and mundane.

Maybe you shoplifted some clothes or jewelry from an open market shop in Venice Beach or the Promenade; or maybe you accrued a petty theft charge on top of other charges, like robbery, assault, and fraud.

You understand that your situation is serious: you need a good Los Angeles criminal defense attorney to help you solve your mess and move on with your life.

Published on: March 6, 2013

Fighting Medicare Fraud in Los Angeles Pays Off, Big Time, for Federal Government

by Michael Kraut

A new study shows that the federal government’s vigorous campaign against Medicare fraud in Los Angeles and beyond is paying off — big time.

Over the last three years, the government has returned $7.90 for every $1 invested into the anti-fraud mission. This marks the highest ever return for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, a nearly two decade old program, and federal officials are crowing about the numbers. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health & Human Services, said “our historic effort to take on the criminals who steal from Medicare and Medicaid is paying off. We are gaining the upper hand in our fight against healthcare fraud.”

The antifraud initiative is a collaboration between the Department of Justice and HHS. The Obama administration has lent lots of help to soup up this program and deliver more results. Over the past four years, federal officials recovered nearly $15 billion from scam artists, executives, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, vendors, and others who masterminded or acted complicit with fraudulent schemes. That’s nearly double the amount recovered over the previous four-year period.