Calif. man gets prison in Medicare fraud plot

A California man was sentenced Friday to more than three years in prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare and Medicaid more than $21 million for medical tests at New Orleans area clinics.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk sentenced Jerayr Rostamian, 50, of Northridge, Calif., to 40 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $250,000 fine. Africk also ordered the company Rostamian owned, Med-Tech Technologies Inc., to pay more than $3.7 million in restitution.

Rostamian pleaded guilty to illegally structuring a series of monetary transactions. His company pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors say the medical clinics involved in the scheme recruited patients to undergo tests that weren't performed or weren't medically necessary in exchange for giving them drug prescriptions.

The clinics bought medical equipment from Med-Tech at inflated prices as part of the fraudulent billing scheme.

Eleven other people and six other companies already have pleaded guilty in the case.