$14M Medicare Hospice Fraudster Sentenced

Sophia Shaklian, a Los Angeles hospice owner, was sentenced on March 24 to 35 months in federal prison for defrauding Medicare out of more than $14 million. (justice.gov) U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. also ordered Shaklian, 38, to pay $14,103,043 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. (justice.gov) Prosecutors said the scheme ran from March 2019 to August 2024 through Chateau d’Lumina Hospice and Palliative Care in Pasadena and six diagnostic testing companies in Sylmar, North Hollywood, Hollywood and Claremont. (justice.gov) Hospice care is supposed to serve people who are terminally ill and no longer seeking curative treatment. Prosecutors said Shaklian and her co-schemers instead billed Medicare for hospice and diagnostic services that beneficiaries did not need, never received, or did not know about. (justice.gov) The Justice Department said the group checked beneficiaries’ Medicare eligibility and used their information to submit false claims through providers enrolled in the program. In one example, prosecutors said a false $2,000 diagnostic testing claim was submitted in November 2022 for a patient who did not receive the service. (justice.gov) Shaklian pleaded guilty in November 2025 to one count of health care fraud. Her co-defendant, Alex Alexsanian of Burbank, pleaded guilty on January 20, 2026, to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and was awaiting sentencing at the time of Shaklian’s sentencing announcement. (justice.gov 1) (justice.gov 2) Federal prosecutors have been describing Southern California as a high-risk region for hospice fraud. On April 2, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced eight more arrests in Los Angeles-area health care fraud cases with more than $50 million in intended losses, including sham hospice operations that used people without terminal illnesses as beneficiaries. (justice.gov) The Shaklian case shows how hospice fraud can work like identity theft wrapped in medical billing: real patient information, fake eligibility, and claims sent through companies that appear legitimate on paper. Medicare paid the bills until investigators traced the pattern back to the operators, prosecutors said. (justice.gov 1) (justice.gov 2) The sentence closes one part of the case, but the broader crackdown is still moving through federal court in Los Angeles. Prosecutors are using prison terms, restitution orders and new indictments to try to stop sham hospice operators from treating Medicare like a cash machine. (justice.gov) (justice.gov)