MRI CEO faces 240-year sentence for comp kickback scheme
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The CEO of several California medical imaging companies was found guilty by a federal jury of fraudulently submitting more than $250 million in claims through the state’s workers compensation system in a “cross-referral” scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice released in a statement Friday.
Sam Sarkis Solakyan was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and health care fraud and 11 counts of honest services mail fraud by Judge Cynthia Bashant in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Mr. Solakyan, who owned Glendale, California-based Vital Imagine Inc. and the San Diego MRI Institute, entered into various sham agreements with chiropractor Steven Rigler, patient scheduling company CEO Fermin Iglesias and others that involved paying bribes and kickbacks to induce physicians to refer workers compensation patients to Mr. Solakyan’s companies, the DOJ said.
In 2015, Mr. Rigler pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and was sentenced to six months in prison. Mr. Iglesias, former CEO of scheduling company MedEx Solutions, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and health care fraud and was sentenced in 2019 to five years in prison.
Carlos Arguello, who was also involved in the scheme, pleaded guilty in 2016 to the same charges as Mr. Iglesias and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Mr. Solakyan faces a maximum sentence of 240 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 4.
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