Nurista Grigoryan

On February 18, 2014, Nuritsa Grigoryan was convicted on charges of health care fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to misbrand pharmaceutical drugs, false statements to the Federal Government, and conspiracy to use other persons' identification documents in furtherance of fraud. Grigoryan, along with co-conspirators Dr. Kenneth Johnson and Artak Ovsepian, were found guilty for their roles in a $20 million health care fraud scheme involving fraudulent prescriptions for expensive antipsychotic drugs.

According to the indictment, Grigoryan and her co-conspirators operated Manor Medical Imaging, Inc. (Manor), which functioned as a "prescription mill" that generated thousands of prescriptions for expensive antipsychotic medications. These drugs purportedly were prescribed by Johnson upon examining the patients. However, Johnson did not examine the patients, but rather presigned thousands of blank prescription forms that were used by Grigoryan and the others associated with Manor to submit fraudulent claims for prescriptions to Medicare and Medi-Cal. Grigoryan pretended to be an American doctor when she saw the patients at Manor and presigned the prescriptions forms.

Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries were brought to Manor by patient recruiters and received prescriptions for antipsychotic medications in exchange for cash or other inducements. Drivers employed by Manor then drove the beneficiaries to pharmacies to have their prescriptions filled. The drivers then took the medications from the beneficiaries and delivered the drugs to Manor. Manor also generated prescriptions for beneficiaries who never visited Manor and whose identities were stolen.

Grigoryan was scheduled to be sentenced in June 2014. She was released after trial and ordered to wear an ankle monitor. Investigators believe that Grigoryan removed her ankle monitor. Grigoryan may be residing in a hidden location in the greater Los Angeles area or may have fled to Armenia after recently obtaining travel documents from the Armenian Consulate. Ovsepian is currently in custody and awaiting sentencing while Johnson is being monitored before being sentenced.