Blood Test Lab Owner Sentenced to More Than 4 Years in Federal Prison for Using Shill to Collect Medicare Payments to Evade $11.2 Million in Taxes

LOS ANGELES - A Burbank man was sentenced today to 51 months in federal prison for evading the payment of more than $11.2 million in federal taxes by using a shill to illegally collect Medicare reimbursement payments made to his blood-testing company, and to fraudulently obtaining nearly $100,000 in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 business relief.

Armen Muradyan, 60, was sentenced by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt, who also ordered him to pay $15,158,033 in restitution.

Muradyan pleaded guilty in August 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of tax evasion.

Muradyan owned and operated a Burbank-based blood testing laboratory called Genex Laboratories Inc. Medicare and bank records showed that Medicare paid millions of dollars in reimbursements to Genex for blood testing. The reimbursements were wired to bank accounts in the name of an individual identified in court documents as "L.S." - Muradyan's long-time friend to whom Muradyan had offered to pay $2,000 per month to pretend to be Genex's owner.

Muradyan told L.S. that he needed him to submit Medicare enrollment papers to Medicare on Genex's behalf because Medicare had banned Muradyan from submitting claims.

L.S. and Muradyan opened bank accounts for Genex in L.S.'s name, but which Muradyan controlled. L.S. neither owned nor operated Genex and visited the company's Burbank office to collect his $2,000 monthly payment and to sometimes sign documents at Muradyan's direction. Muradyan used the proceeds from the health care fraud conspiracy to pay the mortgage on a property he owned as well as to support his gambling habit and to pay personal expenses.

For the tax years of 2015 through 2023, Muradyan instructed L.S. to report Genex's financial activity on L.S.'s personal income tax returns using documents that L.S. provided to his own tax preparer. The documents purportedly showed that Genex had minimal net profit or was operating at a loss, meaning the company had little or no income tax liability.

For the same period, Muradyan submitted income tax returns that reported none of Genex's financial activity as his own and that he averaged an income of $40,000 per year. In fact, Muradyan personally received and used millions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements to support his own expensive lifestyle.

Muradyan also did not file tax returns for the years 2021 through 2023.

In total, Muradyan's unreported federal taxable income was approximately $23,915,762, resulting in a total federal income tax due and owing by him of approximately $11,236,356 plus prejudgment interest of $3,921,677.

In July 2020, Muradyan wired a false and fraudulent application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) that was funded by federal taxpayers. On the application, Muradyan falsely stated that an entity, GenMed, employed multiple people and generated $800,000 in income for the year 2019. In fact, Muradyan knew GenMed employed no one and generated zero income for that year. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) wired $99,900 to a bank account Muradyan controlled. He then used the money for personal expenses not permitted under the terms of the EIDL. Muradyan admitted he acted with the intent to deceive and cheat the SBA.

IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Mark Aveis of the Major Frauds Section and Trial Attorney Mahana K. Weidler of the Department of Justice's Tax Division prosecuted this case.

The Department of Justice has created the National Fraud Enforcement Division whose core mission is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.