The Most Crooked Doctor in the World?

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A San Fernando Valley doctor was sentenced to 3½ years in federal prison and ordered to repay Medicare $3 million for operations he never performed - including some on people who were dead.

Pezhman Ebrahimzadeh aka Pez Abrahams was sentenced to prison Tuesday and ordered to pay $3.2 million in restitution, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Ebrahimzadeh, 50, of Calabasas, owns the Winnetka Medical Group, a "cosmetic health care clinic," that does business as Health & Beauty Clinic.

According to the U.S. attorney's statement: "Ebrahimzadeh's 'conduct was so brazen that he billed Medicare for purportedly performing dozens of procedures on patients who were dead,' prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum to the court. 'For one such patient, defendant billed Medicare for seven separate high-paying procedures. [Ebrahimzadeh] also altered medical records in an attempt to conceal his fraudulent conduct. In addition to defrauding Medicare, defendant billed private insurance carriers for similar procedures, some of which he claimed he performed on himself.'" (Brackets in U.S. attorney's statement.)

Ebrahimzadeh also submitted bills for operations on people he never met, after getting beneficiary information about them from patients.

He submitted $7.5 million in Medicare fraudulent claims, and was paid more than $3 million.

To top it off, prosecutors said, "In the sentencing memo, prosecutors noted that Ebrahimzadeh was arrested last month on suspicion of sexually assaulting a patient during a physical examination."

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit