The United States Congressional Oversight Committee announced on Monday (March 23) that it will investigate fraudulent activities in California’s Hospice Care program. At the same time, the Department of Justice is also cracking down on fraud at the legal level.
The Department of Justice stated on Tuesday that 38-year-old Sophia Shaklian from Larchmont, Los Angeles County, has been sentenced to 35 months in federal prison for healthcare fraud and ordered to pay approximately $14.1 million in restitution.
According to the DOJ press release, Shaklian pleaded guilty in November 2025 for submitting false claims for hospice and diagnostic testing services in order to fraudulently obtain over $14 million in federal Medicare funds.
From March 2019 to August 2024, Shaklian and her conspirators (often using aliases) utilized multiple fake hospice and diagnostic testing facilities registered with federal Medicare to submit fraudulent claims.
These implicated facilities and companies were primarily registered under Shaklian’s name, including the hospice facility “Chateau d’Lumina Hospice and Palliative Care” in Pasadena, as well as several diagnostic testing companies spread across different cities. These include “Saint Gorge Radiology” in Sherman, “Hope Diagnostics” in North Hollywood, “Direct Imaging Diagnostics” in Hollywood, “Lab One,” “Labtech” in Claremont, and “Lifescan Diagnostics.”
Shaklian and her conspirators used personal information of Medicare beneficiaries to verify eligibility, then intentionally submitted false claims on behalf of beneficiaries who did not need hospice services, had never received such services, or were completely unaware of the claims to defraud Medicare payments.
For instance, in November 2022, Shaklian and her conspirators intentionally submitted a fraudulent claim of $2,000 for diagnostic testing services to the health insurance company, falsely claiming to have provided testing services to a beneficiary.
In her plea agreement, she admitted that both she and her conspirators submitted false claims during the fraud scheme, causing at least $14.1 million in economic losses to federal Medicare.
A co-defendant in the case, 48-year-old Alex Alexsanian (aliases “Samvel” and “Samo”), pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy on January 20. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.
The House Oversight Committee announced on Monday that, following alarming reports of California officials failing to properly oversee federal funds, Chairman James Comer and committee Republicans have initiated an investigation into rampant fraud in California’s Hospice Care program.
In a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom, lawmakers emphasized that the Newsom administration had been aware of end-of-life care fraud issues disclosed in a state audit report at least four years ago but failed to prevent or detect them, allowing hospice care facilities to defraud U.S. taxpayers and exploit vulnerable patients.
The committee currently requests California to provide documentation related to the oversight and internal controls of the federally funded hospice care program and communication records for review and fraud prevention.
In March 2022, California’s audit agency warned that the state government’s oversight of end-of-life care and the medical industry was “weak,” providing an opportunity for “large-scale fraud and abuse.” The Department of Health had identified potential fraud during licensing, yet still approved these facilities to operate.
Investigators noted that in just Los Angeles County alone, the number of hospice care facilities surged from 109 in 2010 to 1,841 in 2021.
Governor Newsom stated in a release on Tuesday that California has been rigorously combating fraud in the hospice care sector for years. Over the past two years, over 280 hospice care facilities’ licenses have been revoked, and approximately 300 more facilities are under scrutiny for potential license revocation.
“California takes a zero-tolerance approach to fraudulent activities, especially in sensitive and critical service areas like hospice care when it comes to abusing public welfare programs,” Newsom said.