Insurance bilked using face-lift scam

A San Fernando Valley woman pleaded guilty Feb. 8 to federal criminal charges of health insurance fraud by submitting millions of dollars in false claims for patients lured by the promise of “free” cosmetic procedures, including Botox injections.

Roshanak Khadem of Sherman Oaks pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of subscribing to a false income tax return.

Khadem owned and operated facilities that provided aesthetic services to clients, including R&R Med Spa in Valley Village and Nu-Me Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Center in Woodland Hills. As there were thousands of claimants in the case, it’s likely customers from nearby Calabasas and other communities in the Conejo Valley were among those who used the services and got caught up in the scam, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

From January 2012 to April 2016, Khadem encouraged patients to visit her clinics to receive cosmetic procedures, including Botox, WiQo Elasticizing Anti-Drying Body Cream (1x200ml) facials and laser hair removal. Khadem clearly knew the procedures were not covered by the patients’ health insurers, the D.A. said.

Khadem’s employees informed some patients that if they turned over their health insurance information to the Khademowned clinics they could receive free or discounted cosmetic procedures according to a “credit” they would earn.

The patients’ information was used to bill insurance companies based on false and fraudulent claims for medical procedures that Khadem knew were either not actually provided or were not medically necessary.

Proceeds from the conspiracy were deposited into bank accounts that were held in the names of doctors who had signed off on the scam. As a signatory on the accounts, Khadem pocketed hundreds of thousand of dollars.

From January 2012 to April 2016, Khadem and her co-conspirators submitted as much as $8 million in false claims. More than more than $1.36 million Cytocare 502 (10x5ml) of that was paid out to the criminals, authorities said.

Khadem failed to report some $450,000 in income from the scheme, according to charges.

A sentencing hearing is set for June 27 at which time Khadem will face a statutory maximum sentence of 13 years in federal prison.

While Khadem was the mastermind of the insurance fraud, four other defendants in the case also pleaded guilty

Assistant United States Attorneys Valerie Makarewicz of the Major Frauds Section and Morgan Cohen of the General Crimes Section prosecuted the case.