FARGO (AP) - A California man has been sentenced in North Dakota to seven years in prison for what authorities call a multimillion dollar health insurance fraud scheme.
Thirty-one-year-old Hovakim Mkhitarian, of Glendale, California, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
The federal case was tried in North Dakota because Fargo-based Noridian Healthcare Solutions LLC processes and pays Medicare Part B claims.
Authorities say Mkhitarian was a "mid-level participant'' involved in the day-to-day operation of a health care fraud scheme that submitted in excess of $13 million of fraudulent claims to Medicare and caused more than $3 million of losses to the program.
The scheme allegedly recruited foreign students traveling in the United States on summer work visas.
Three other people are scheduled to be sentenced in the case.