Dr. Violetta Mailyan, a 45-year-old Glendale physician, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison after a jury convicted her of nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction of a criminal investigation.
Mailyan fraudulently billed Medicare more than $45 million for Botox injection services that were medically unnecessary and never provided, according to the U.S. Justice Department. She submitted thousands of false claims through Healthy Way Medical Center, the clinic she owned and operated in Glendale.
The fraud was brazen in scope. Mailyan billed for procedures on days when her clinic was closed. She also billed for services while traveling outside California and the United States. She charged over $200,000 for purportedly providing Botox services to California patients while vacationing in Cabo. One claim listed a patient who was incarcerated in federal prison on the date of the purported treatment.
Mailyan used the fraud proceeds to purchase a Tesla Cybertruck, five California properties, a $12,000 17th century crossbow, and an 1807 oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Anton Muxel titled "Portrait of Ludwig, Crown Prince of Bavaria."
When investigators from the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General examined the operation, Mailyan doctored records and forged Medicare beneficiaries' signatures.
The court ordered Mailyan to surrender more than $16 million in seized property, including four properties in Surfside and Glendale worth more than $7 million combined, the Cybertruck, personal possessions, and securities. She must also repay Medicare $32 million.