Doctor Violetta Mailyan sentenced to 15 years for $45 million Medicare fraud

Violetta Mailyan, a 45-year-old physician from Glendale, California, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare of more than $45 million. Mailyan, the owner and director of Healthy Way Medical Center, was convicted by a jury in the Central District of California on nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction of a criminal investigation.

Prosecutors established that Mailyan billed Medicare for thousands of Botox injections that were either medically unnecessary or never actually administered. This included over $19 million in fraudulent claims for services purportedly provided on days when her clinic was closed or while she was traveling in locations such as Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, and New York.

Mailyan was ordered to forfeit more than $16 million in property and pay approximately $32.9 million in restitution to Medicare. Evidence showed she used the fraudulent proceeds to purchase California real estate, Tesla vehicles, and expensive collectibles.