California DOJ's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse assisted in investigation
On January 29, 2016, the former owner and the former operator of a durable medical equipment supply company based in Long Beach, were sentenced for their roles in a $1.5 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Amalya Cherniavsky, 41, and her husband, Vladislav Tcherniavsky, 46, both of Long Beach, were ordered to pay $614,418 in restitution. in addition, Tcherniavsky was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison. The two were convicted by a federal jury of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and five counts of health care fraud.
"Medicare fraud is huge in this country. This case demonstrates the power of federal and state agents teaming up to put a stop to it," said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona.
Cherniavsky owned JC Medical Supply, a purported durable medical equipment supply company that she co-operated with Tcherniavsky. Evidence showed the pair paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals and paid kickbacks to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions—primarily for expensive, medically unnecessary power wheelchairs—which the defendants then used to support fraudulent bills to Medicare.
Between 2006 and 2013, the defendants submitted $1,520,727 in claims to Medicare and received $783,756 in reimbursement for those claims, according to evidence presented at trial.
The case was investigated by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force which consists of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI and the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 2,300 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $7 billion.
