Hasmik Tumanyan, an Armenian national was extradited to the U.S. in January, 2011 for her involvement to defraud Medicaid and other healthcare programs such as Medicare, in an amount totaling $193 million USD.  More than 50 ethnic Armenians living in Armenia and the United States were arrested on October 13, 2010.

Authorities began the investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen. (1)

The defendants also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states.  The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given.

Prosecutors said the phony paperwork showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; and obstetricians testing for skin allergies.

Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was “completely notional,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage.”

On September 14, 2011, Tumanyan was sentenced to 68 months in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000 USD. (2)

On May 29, 2012, Hasmik Tumanyan BOP Register Number 59727-112 was successfully treaty transferred back to Armenia. (3)