DOJ: Azerbaijan National Charged in $90 Million California Healthcare Fraud Scheme
A man from Azerbaijan is accused of involvement in massive healthcare fraud in California, the news coming amid other such instances plaguing the Golden State.
Thirty-eight-year-old Anar Rustamov, whom authorities said appears to have entered the United States illegally, has been charged in the scheme regarding federal healthcare funds distributed through the Medicare Advantage program, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced Friday.
He was charged with “health care fraud for a scheme involving thousands of false claims for medical equipment totaling more than $90 million,” the attorney’s office said in a press release.
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Rustamov previously lived in Sunnyvale, which is in the Bay Area. The news release said he was “was part of a scheme to submit thousands of fraudulent claims to Medicare Advantage Organizations (‘MAOs’) on behalf of unsuspecting beneficiaries for medical equipment such as blood glucose monitors and orthotic braces.”
The attorney’s office continued:
The indictment alleges that Rustamov, from October 2024 through June 2025, executed a scheme through an entity Rustamov created, Dublin Helping Hand, to submit large volumes of claims to MAOs offering Medicare Part C benefit plans. The indictment alleges the scheme sought reimbursement of more than $90 million for medical equipment that was not provided, not needed by patients, and not authorized by a medical provider. The listed patients were unaware that Rustamov and others were submitting the claims, and the referring medical provider listed on the submissions did not authorize the claims, according to the indictment. The defendant is at large.
A few weeks ago, CBS National Correspondent Adam Yamaguchi reported on hospice fraud, saying the industry was ripe for that type of crime especially in California, adding it is “costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars,” per Breitbart News.
It is important to note that citizen journalist Nick Shirley recently went to California, where he allegedly found over $170 million in fraudulent childcare and home healthcare programs that are taxpayer funded, the outlet reported Sunday.
There has also been suspected hospice care fraud at Merabi Professional Medical Plaza in Los Angeles, where there are reportedly 89 licensed hospice companies, according to Breitbart News.
“Sheila Clark, a patient advocate working to expose fraud in the hospice industry, called the building a ‘ground zero’ example of the financial exploitation of taxpayer-funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid,” the outlet said.
In regard to Rustamov’s case, United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian said, “When the Administration declared a War on Fraud, it meant to target exactly this kind of conduct. Rustamov participated in a scheme to steal nearly $100 million in taxpayer funds from a program intended to help those who truly need medical care. Anyone who believes they can make easy money by defrauding such programs should know that we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and prosecute such fraud and abuse.”
