Multiple Bogus Hospice and Diagnostic Testing Providers (Sophia Shaklian)
Outcome
Sophia Shaklian sentenced to 35 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $14,103,043 in restitution for operating bogus hospice and diagnostic testing entities that billed Medicare for medically unnecessary or never-provided services.
Details
Sophia Shaklian / Bogus Hospice Entities — Medicare Fraud (2019–2024)
Outcome: Sentenced to 35 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $14,103,043 in restitution for a five-year Medicare fraud scheme involving sham hospice and diagnostic testing companies.
Sophia Shaklian orchestrated a scheme involving multiple bogus hospice and diagnostic testing providers enrolled with Medicare. Operating under aliases, she and co-conspirators submitted fraudulent claims through companies under her control for services that were either medically unnecessary or never actually delivered to patients.
The scheme ran from approximately March 2019 through August 2024, generating Medicare losses exceeding $14 million over roughly five years. Shaklian enrolled the fraudulent entities with Medicare and used aliases to conceal her control over the billing operations, continuing to submit false claims even as investigators closed in.
Shaklian pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud in November 2025. On March 24, 2026, she was sentenced in the Central District of California to 35 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $14,103,043 in restitution to Medicare.
Primary Source: Larchmont Woman Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Federal Prison for Her Role in Hospice and Diagnostic Testing Fraud that Conned Medicare
How Crucible Prevents This
Crucible's billing-integrity controls and enrollment-verification hooks would flag multiple Medicare-enrolled entities under a single operator; anomaly detection on claim volume vs. patient census would surface phantom billing patterns.
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