Congratulations to our California Department of Justice special agents in the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse.  Their expertise in the investigation of a San Fernando Valley doctor has resulted in a 3-1/2 year prison sentence and an order to pay $3,184,000 in restitution.

"This doctor, through his cosmetic health care clinic, submitted to Medicare,  $7.5 million in bogus claims," said Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA).  "He was so brazen he even submitted claims for procedures, he not only didn't do, some of the purported patients were dead."

Pezhman Ebrahimzadeh, 50, pleaded guilty  in January and was sentenced Monday, April 15, 2013.    As the owner of Winnetka Medical Group, Ebrahimzadeh obtained his patients Medicare beneficiaries and beneficiary information to bill Medicare for procedures he did not perform.  He also obtained beneficiary information for patients he never met or treated and submitted fraudulent bills to Medicare.  He often submitted claims for three expensive procedures in which he did not even have the equipment for.   He also submitted fraudulent claims to private insurance carriers.

The doctor's troubles do not stop here.  He was arrested last month on suspicion of sexually assaulting a patient during a physical exam.