The chief executive of a Glendale medical imaging company was found guilty Friday of fraudulently submitting claims worth more than $250 million through the state workers’ compensation system.Sam Sarkis Solakyan was chief executive of Vital Imaging Inc. in Glendale and other imaging centers in California. According to prosecutors, he conspired with the head of a patient scheduling service to set up a scheme where doctors were paid bribes and kickbacks for referrals of workers’ comp patients for magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI scans.The compensation offered to the corrupt doctors consisted of either cash or referrals of new patients in what is known as a “cross-referral” scheme. The scheme was perpetrated from no later than mid-2013 to November 2016, according to trial evidence.Solakyan had recruiters require physicians to meet a patient referral quota, according to the evidence. Two recruiters, Fermin Iglesias of Glendale and Carlos Arguello of Bonita, were paid more than $8.6 million for obtaining MRI referrals. The payments were concealed from patients and health insurers.Solakyan was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and health care fraud, as well as 11 counts of honest services mail fraud.A sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court for Solakyan has been scheduled for Oct. 4. He will face a statutory maximum sentence of 240 years in federal prison.
Former Glendale CEO Found Guilty of $250 Million Workers’ Comp Fraud
