Yes, we love the Sopranos and root for the Godfather, and for sure the GoodFellas and Departed will never depart from our culture-crazed minds. They’re fun to watch on TV.
Cover of GoodFellas
But we’re talking about law-breaking here; and in Charleston, South Carolina, the mob’s even more fun to watch on TV now thanks to enforcers of the law in the great state. If you were to keep watch on all sites regarding Charleston — such as southcharleston.org — you might hear of this.
It’s about the Russian mafia.
Apparently three men — 41-year-old Sargis Tadevosyan, 21-year-old Igo Shevchuk, and 23-year-old Arsen Bedzanyan — were indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charleston for health care fraud. The official charge was Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud. Essentially, they obtained money through false Medicare claims. Naughty, naughty.
They actually set up five ‘phantom clinics’ and sent addresses to Medicare to obtain funds for something that didn’t even involve health care! Using fictitious or stolen identities, they opened bank accounts to receive those funds without even taking a temperature or performing surgery on anyone. Not that they would, because they’re not doctors. They’re crooks.
Apparently, these three men were on their way to other states, setting up more ‘phantom clinics’ to obtain more funds from Medicare. Thankfully, it was all halted. Clever. But not clever enough. This was back in the Fall of 2010 all the way to May 6, 2011. No more, though — their days of health care fraud are over.
