A California doctor was convicted Monday in what federal officials called the largest Botox fraud scheme in the United States. Prosecutors said she billed Medicare for $45 million in injections that were never given, medically unnecessary, or used purely for cosmetic purposes. President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud was built to catch schemes exactly like this one.
Violetta Mailyan, 45, of Glendale, owned and operated Healthy Way Medical Center. A jury in the Central District of California convicted her of nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction of a criminal investigation tied to a health care offense. Federal prosecutors said Mailyan billed Medicare for Botox injections while vacationing in Cabo, Mexico; Maui, Hawaii; Las Vegas; Pennsylvania; and New York, and even submitted claims for a patient who was incarcerated in federal prison at the time.
Medicare reimburses Botox injections only when medically necessary to treat documented chronic migraines. Prosecutors said Mailyan billed the program for thousands of injections that were never provided, were performed for cosmetic purposes, or involved patients who had not been referred for chronic migraine treatment. Prosecutors laid it out:
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Violetta Mailyan, 45, of Glendale, owned and operated Healthy Way Medical Center, a clinic that purported to provide beauty and cosmetic services. Although Medicare reimburses medical providers for Botox injections when necessary to treat documented cases of chronic migraines, Mailyan billed and received payments for thousands of injections that were never provided or were provided only for cosmetic purposes or for patients whose primary care physicians had not referred them for treatment of chronic migraines.
Mailyan also billed for thousands of injections, worth more than $19 million, on days when her clinic was closed.
The Health Care Fraud Section's Data Analytics Team flagged Mailyan after finding she had been paid more by Medicare for Medicare than in the country. At the time, DOJ said she had received more than $24 million over the previous four years, six times the next-highest group of providers, all of whom were neurologists.
Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office:
Physicians who defraud and manipulate federally funded health care programs to line their own pockets do so at the expense of American taxpayers and those who are in legitimate need of medical procedures. The FBI is gratified that the jury convicted Dr. Mailyan based on the evidence, which uncovered the largest Botox fraud scheme in the United States, to include brazenly billing for someone who was incarcerated. Furthermore, the FBI is committed to pursuing physicians and others in the healthcare system who fleece Medicare and, in doing so, drive up premiums and co-payments for law-abiding citizens.
The jury found the following assets were proceeds of the fraud and ordered them forfeited. That included a Tesla Model X, a Tesla Cybertruck, $251,124 in funds across multiple bank accounts, brokerage accounts valued at more than $7.3 million, and four properties in Surfside and Glendale, California, with a combined estimated equity of more than $7.3 million.
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Mailyan is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10, 2026. She faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count and up to five years for each obstruction count.
Since 2007, the Justice Department's Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. The program now operates as part of Trump's whole-of-government fraud task force, chaired by Vice President JD Vance.
Medicare fraud is not a paperwork crime. In this case, it funded Cabo vacations, a Tesla Cybertruck, and a 17th-century crossbow bought with money meant for sick Americans.
https://redstate.com/ben-smith/2026/05/21/the-botox-scheme-that-left-taxpayers-paralyzed-and-her-facing-20-years-n2202559
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