LOS ANGELES : Men’s Sentencing Set in Health Care Fraud

Two Russian immigrants who may have pulled off the largest health care scam in U.S. history are scheduled for sentencing by a federal judge Sept. 19.

Michael Smushkevich is a graduate of Moscow’s Missile Construction Institute and reportedly has been linked to the KGB and Russian organized crime. He pleaded guilty March 16, 1993, to mail and wire fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and other charges.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Lee Michaelson said the amount of loss Smushkevich stipulated to as part of the guilty pleas was more than $80 million. Smushkevich, who is representing himself, was supposed to have been sentenced Monday, but he asked for more time.

Bogich Jovovich, a doctor who managed medical diagnostic clinics for Smushkevich, also will be sentenced Sept. 19. Prosecutors said he set up the shell corporations through which fraudulent billings were made.

David Smushkevich, Michael’s brother and a former Soviet doctor never licensed to practice medicine in the United States, is scheduled for sentencing July 11. The men billed insurance firms for sophisticated diagnostic tests performed on people who were contacted by phone and told that the exams were either free or offered for a nominal charge.

The defendants falsified medical records to create the impression that the patients suffered from various illnesses and required the tests, prosecutors said.