Armenian Criminal Boss Gets Sweetheart Deal for Massive Medicare Fraud Scheme

NEW YORK — Criminal boss Armen Kazarian, (nicknamed Pzo) charged with cheating Medicare out of $100 million, has cut a 3-year sweetheart deal with prosecutors.
Kazarian pleaded guilty to making threats and other crimes in exchange for the light sentence. He also admitted to being involved in a criminal conspiracy.
“I was involved in a criminal conspiracy,” Armen Kazarian, 47, said through a translator.
He and dozens of other gangsters were charged last October with setting up at least 118 “phantom” clinics that, with stolen I.D.s, ripped off more than $35 million in federal funds.
Federal District Judge Paul Gardephe cautioned Kazarian that he could not appeal if he was “sentenced to 37 months or less.” Kazarian agreed.
So far, only two other members of the group – Rafik Terdjanian and Karen Aharonian – have pleaded guilty.
Charges in the takedown were also filed in California, Georgia, New Mexico and Ohio, against more than 70 other mobsters.
In all, they falsely billed the government for $160 million.