Two Sentenced for Medicare Fraud at Medical Equipment Supply Company

The former owner of JC Medical Supply, a durable medical equipment supply company based in Long Beach, Calif., will serve four years and three months in prison, the Justice Department announced late last month.

Vladislav Tcherniavsky, 46, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and five counts of healthcare fraud by a federal jury on Oct. 15, 2015. His wife, Amalya Cherniavsky, 41, who co-operated the company, was found guilty of the same offenses. She was sentenced to a term of probation.

U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California also ordered the defendants to pay $614,418 in restitution.

Between 2006 and 2013, the defendants submitted more than $1.5 million in claims to Medicare and received $783,756 in reimbursement, according to evidence presented at trial.

Evidence showed the defendants paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters for referrals and physicians for fraudulent prescriptions — primarily for expensive, medically unnecessary power wheelchairs. — Jonathon Shacat