Laundering Ill-Gotten Gains From Healthcare Insurance Fraud Schemes

Abramov—The Complicit Bank Employee

On Feb. 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a press release reporting that Renat Abramov (Abramov) pleaded guilty to participating in a multi-pronged scheme to launder more than $8 million in fraudulently obtained Medicare reimbursements. Per the Department of Justice, this is the first time the Health Care Fraud Unit has charged and convicted a former bank employee for conspiring to launder health care fraud proceeds.

The Abramov prosecution began in September 2024 with the filing of a Complaint and Application for an Arrest Warrant charging Abramov for his participation in a nationwide fraudulent scheme involving durable medical equipment companies operating in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Texas, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Florida.

Specifically, the complaint describes how multiple individuals with ties to various foreign countries, many of whom were not in the U.S. legally at the time, conspired to take over durable medical equipment companies located throughout the U.S. that were already approved by Medicare to supply medically necessary durable medical equipment to beneficiaries. After securing control of these durable medical equipment companies, these individuals submitted tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in claims to Medicare and other health care benefit programs for, primarily, continuous glucose monitors and urinary catheters.

However, many of the beneficiaries supposedly receiving these items had been deceased for more than one month by the time the equipment was dispensed. For example, in one thirty-day period, one of the durable medical equipment companies—Konaniah Medical Equipment & Supplies LLC (Konaniah)—submitted claims for items dispensed to 811 beneficiaries who had been deceased for more than one month. Similarly, in one seven-month period, another of the durable medical equipment companies—Argo Medical Supplies & Services Inc. (Argo Medical)—submitted claims for items dispensed to 557 beneficiaries who had been deceased for more than one month.

Moreover, a third durable medical equipment company involved in the scheme—G&I Ortho Supply Inc. (G&I Ortho)—submitted claims for items dispensed to 507 beneficiaries who had been deceased for more than one month, and a fourth durable medical equipment company involved in the scheme—Medical Home Care Inc. (Medical Home Care)—submitted claims for items dispensed to 711 beneficiaries who had been deceased for more than one month.

Naturally, the owners of Konaniah, Argo Medical, G&I Ortho, and Medical Home Care needed to open bank accounts to receive the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme and, in some cases, transfer those proceeds out of the country. Since none of these individuals were in the country legally at the time, they needed the cooperation of a bank employee to open the financial accounts, as the account opening documents require the bank employee, for tax purposes, to designate whether or not the account holder is a U.S. citizen.

Against that backdrop, each of the above-referenced owners was directed to Abramov to open the financial accounts. Telephonic records showed that over the course of a two-year period, Abramov had over 1,900 telephonic contacts with other members of the conspiracy.

Abramov subsequently opened accounts for, among other companies, Konaniah, Argo Medical, G&I Ortho, and Medical Home Care and misrepresented on each of the account opening documents that the account holders were U.S. citizens. Members of the conspiracy used these accounts to deposit funds received from the fraudulent scheme and transferred significant funds to various Hong Kong based businesses.

Abramov was arrested the day he was scheduled to leave the country with a one-way ticket to Moscow, Russia and, on Feb. 3, 2026, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in furtherance of the above-described healthcare fraud scheme. Abramov is currently scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2026.

Tariverdi—The Check Cashing Scheme

On Oct. 17, 2024, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Kenan Tariverdi, Nazim Tariverdi, and Dilshod Islamov (Islamov)—none of whom are licensed healthcare providers—with operating an extensive “no-fault” insurance fraud scheme that submitted more than $11 million in fraudulent claims for psychological testing and services – and for laundering the proceeds of that fraud through a network of illicit check cashers, including Alvaro Geovanni Quijada-Lemus (Quijada-Lemus).

Kenan Tariverdi, Nazim Tariverdi, and Islamov’s alleged participation in the scheme included fraudulently owning, operating, and controlling multiple medical professional corporations, including psychology practices, that billed automobile insurance companies millions of dollars for fraudulent treatments under New York’s no-fault law. By way of background, as recognized by the New York Court of Appeals in State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Mallela, 4 N.Y.3d 313 (2005), a medical professional corporation must be owned, operated, and controlled by a licensed medical practitioner to be eligible for reimbursement under the no-fault law.

No-fault insurers may withhold payment for medical services when a medical professional corporation fails to meet applicable New York State licensing requirements, such as being unlawfully owned and controlled by non-physicians, even if the professional corporation was established under the facially valid cover of physician-ownership recorded on the incorporation documents.

As alleged in the indictment, as part of the scheme, Kenan Tariverdi, Nazim Tariverdi, and Islamov exercised control over the bank accounts of the medical practices they controlled. In order to extract the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme, these three individuals directed the healthcare practitioners associated with the practices they controlled to sign stacks of blank checks drawn on the healthcare practices’ accounts.

These checks were then deposited into accounts held by a series of shell companies controlled by the Tariverdis and Islamov. After the checks were deposited into the shell companies’ accounts, the Tariverdis and Islamov further laundered the proceeds of their scheme by using a network of individuals, including Quijada-Lemus, to cash checks drawn on the shell companies’ accounts. For example, as noted in the indictment, over the course of approximately eight transactions, Quijada-Lemus cashed approximately 50 checks totaling over $200,000.00 with an unlicensed check-casher.

On June 12, 2025, Quijada-Lemus pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Kenan Tariverdi and Islamov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on July 9, 2025 and Nov. 6, 2025 respectively, and were ordered to pay a $3,777,580.35 money judgment to the U.S. government. At the time of this publication, the case against Nazim Tariverdi remains pending.

Conclusion

Recent indictments and plea agreements confirm what has become a commonplace occurrence: a large-scale fraud scheme that generates millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains from healthcare payors. The Abramov and Tariverdi prosecutions shed light on the multiple ways that the participants launder the proceeds of these schemes. In Abramov, the participants in the scheme found a bank employee who was willing to participate in the scheme, thereby allowing large sums of money to be transferred out of the country.

In Tariverdi, the defendants moved the funds through shell companies that they controlled before converting the funds into cash using unlicensed check-cashers. Both of these cases serve as reminders that sophisticated healthcare insurance fraud schemes are rarely limited to just healthcare service providers and that the old adage of “follow-the-money” never really gets old.

Reprinted with permission from the April 2, 2026, issue of the New York Law Journal^©, ALM Media Properties, LLC. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.