Minas Kochumian M.D., a physician previously practicing in the Los Angeles area, has agreed to pay $9,486,287 to resolve allegations that he submitted false claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal for procedures and tests that were never performed.

Kochumian’ medical corporation reportedly practiced under the name California Medical And Rehabilitation Group, located at 18546 Roscoe Blvd, 312, Northridge, California. The mailing address for California Medical And Rehabilitation Group was 2980 N Beverly Glen Cir, 301, Los Angeles.

Kochumian pleaded guilty to one count of federal health care fraud, and on May 2, 2022, he was sentenced to a prison term of three years and five months and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $5.4 million. This sum is included in the overall civil lawsuit settlement amount.

The civil settlement resolves contentions by the United States and the State of California that Kochumian, over a period of more than six years ending in April 2018, submitted claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal for procedures, services, and tests that were never conducted or administered to patients, including injections of medication designed to treat osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, drainage of tailbone cysts, and the removal and destruction of various growths.

As part of the settlement agreement, Kochumian admitted that he intentionally submitted false claims for payment with the intent to deceive the United States and California. In doing so, Kochumian violated both the federal False Claims Act and the California False Claims Act. Those statutes allow the government to recover damages and penalties for the presentation of false claims for payment to the United States and the State of California, respectively.

The civil settlement with Kochumian resolves allegations originally brought in a lawsuit filed by Elize Oganesyan and Damon Davies, Kochumian’s former medical assistant and former informational technology consultant, under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

The Act permits private parties to sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery. The whistleblowers who filed the case against Kochumian will receive more than $1.75 million as their share of the recovery. The whistleblowers’ claims for attorneys’ fees are not resolved by this settlement.

The state of California will receive $630,099 from the settlement amount – double the damages which were incurred by Medi-Cal.

Kochumian’s payment obligation set forth in the settlement agreement is secured by the four real properties located at 18251 Roscoe Boulevard, Northridge, California 91325; 18501 Marblehead Way, Tarzana, California 91356; 10986 Vanalden Avenue, Northridge, California, 91326; and 8157 Morse Avenue, North Hollywood, California 91405.

The civil settlement was the result of an investigation by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The civil lawsuit is captioned United States and State of California ex rel. Elize Oganesyan and Damon Davies v. Minas Kochumian, et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-2236 KJM JDP, and the parallel criminal case, which was filed in the Central District of California, is captioned United States v. Minas Kochumian, M.D., Case No. 2:20-CR-00423 (RGK).