Medicare fraud mastermind sentenced to 15 years in prison
B’klyn clinic owner supervised phony claims, no-show doctors
On Wednesday, Irina Shelikhova, 50, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her leadership role in a $77 million Medicare fraud scheme.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York sentenced Shelikhova to three years of supervised release with a concurrent exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and all Federal health programs, ordered her to forfeit $36,241,545, and ordered her to pay restitution in the amount of $50,943,386.
Shelikhova has been in custody since June 15, 2012, when she was arrested at JFK Airport after living as a fugitive in the Ukraine for almost two years. After serving her sentence, she faces deportation from the United States.