A California doctor ran the ‘largest Botox fraud scheme’ in the country, raking in $45 million in luxury lifestyle claims.
More than a year ago, federal officials noticed something troubling about the Glendale-based doctor: he had collected more in Medicare Botox reimbursements than any other provider in the nation.
During a four-year period beginning in 2020, Violetta Mailyan billed more than $25 million for Botox injections through Medicare payments, five times more than any other doctor made during the same period, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
It turned out it was all part of an elaborate fraud scheme that prosecutors say ignored Medicare rules for Botox coverage and falsified medical records, all to support the doctor’s lavish lifestyle.
Mailyan, 45, was convicted this week in federal court, accused of sending more than $45 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for Botox injections and trying to mislead investigators working on the case.
Prosecutors say he made requests for injections that were “never provided and not medically necessary” from 2019 to 2025, working as the head physician, owner and operator of Healthy Way Medical Center in Glendale.
Medicare reimburses providers of Botox injections only for certain conditions, such as chronic migraines or excessive muscle contractions, and must be considered medically necessary and usually only after other interventions have not worked, according to court records from the case.
Instead, prosecutors said, “Mailyan billed and received payments for thousands of injections that were never administered or administered solely for cosmetic purposes.”
Mailyan also billed for injections he had performed while out of town, including while on vacation in Cabo, Hawaii, Las Vegas and New York, and on days his clinic was closed, the release said. He was also accused of billing a Medicare patient who was incarcerated in a state prison.
Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, called the case “the largest Botox fraud scheme in the United States.”
“Violetta Mailyan falsely identified patients, falsely charged for Botox injections while on luxury vacations and tried to deceive government agents with fake records,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Colin M. McDonald, who works in the Department of Justice’s national fraud unit, said in a statement. “The Fraud Unit’s data-driven approach will shine a light on fraud schemes across the country, ensuring that no physician can engage in these types of unscrupulous Medicare fraud schemes.”
The investigation also found that Mailyan used Medicare payments to fund numerous vacations he took and to buy luxury collectibles such as a $12,000 17th-century crossbow and a $3,000 painting, prosecutors said.
The judge who convicted Mailyan also ruled that several of his assets were proceeds of the fraud scheme and, therefore, subject to forfeiture, including a Tesla Cybertruck, four properties in Surfside and Glendale worth more than $7 million, more than $250,000 in multiple bank accounts and vendor accounts worth $7 million, the release said.
Mailyan was convicted of nine counts of fraud and three counts of obstructing a criminal investigation in connection with the health care case. He faces sentencing in September, with a maximum sentence of nearly 200 years in prison – up to 20 years on each count of fraud and 5 years on each count of tampering.
