Los Angeles Eye Clinic Doctor Gets Prison Term
Los Angeles Times, Jun 11, 2002;

A physician who ran a chain of laser eye clinics where he faked operations was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison for defrauding Medicare.

Dr. Antoine L. Garabet, 46, of Glendora also was fined $200,000 and ordered to pay $264,653 in restitution. U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson stayed the sentence pending an appeal. Defense lawyer Richard Marmaro, who had asked that Garabet be sentenced to community service, said afterward that he was "very disappointed."

Garabet and his Laser Eye Centers , a chain of 23 clinics, were convicted by a federal jury in Los Angeles last year on four counts of fraud. He was acquitted on six others. The California Medical Board has since moved to revoke or suspend his license, alleging gross negligence, incompetence and dishonesty. An administrative hearing is pending.

In the federal criminal case, Garabet was found guilty of telling elderly Medicare patients that they had glaucoma or other retinal diseases that could lead to blindness, and then persuading them to undergo laser surgery.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Ng, who tried the case, said the surgeries were bogus. "He basically did a light show for them," Ng said. "He went through the motions to make it appear that he was doing something."

Garabet also was accused of overbilling Medicare for surgeries that were performed, but the judge dismissed those counts at trial.

Surgeon, Eye Clinics Convicted of Fraud
Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2001 ;

A federal jury Friday convicted a California-based chain of laser eye clinics and the surgeon who co-founded them on charges of defrauding the Medicare program by billing for surgeries that were never performed.

Dr. Antoine L. Garabet, 45, of Glendora and Laser Eye Centers were found guilty of four counts of mail fraud stemming from a scheme involving two victims. The federal jury acquitted Garabet and the chain of six similar counts concerning three other patients.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Ng said Garabet told elderly Medicare patients that they had eye problems that could lead to blindness, and persuaded them to sign consent forms agreeing to undergo laser eye surgery for treatment of glaucoma or other retinal diseases.

Then, Ng said, "he basically did a light show for them. He went through the motions, to make it appear that he was doing something."

"It's not so much the monetary amount but a doctor's violation of trust, of abusing his patients," said Ng, of the U.S. attorney's public corruption and government fraud section. "It was unconscionable."

Garabet, the chain's president, co-founder and chief surgeon, was accused of cheating Medicare between 1995 and 1997. The indictment did not specify how much money, if any, Medicare lost through the scam.

Garabet's lawyer, Richard Marmaro, and the attorney for the eye centers, Jack DiCanio, could not be reached for comment.

Doctor and Clinics Indicted in Laser Surgery Scams
The Los Angeles Times, Sep 28, 2000

DAVID ROSENZWEIG;

A California-based chain of laser eye clinics and the physician who founded it were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges of defrauding the Medicare program.

Dr. Antoine L. Garabet, 45, of San Dimas , and his Laser Eye Centers are accused of billing Medicare for surgeries that were not performed or overbilling for others.

The indictment did not specify how much money, if any, Medicare lost through the alleged billing scam.

But U.S. Atty. Alejandro N. Majorkas said Garabet bilked the health care program for the elderly "out of pure greed."

Garabet's lawyer, Bryan Altman, said his client "looks forward to proving his innocence" when the case goes to trial.

The indictment accuses Garabet and his chain of 23 eye surgery centers of cheating Medicare through two illegal billing practices between 1995 and 1997.

In one alleged scheme, the indictment said Garabet would get Medicare patients to sign consent forms agreeing to undergo laser eye surgery for treatment of glaucoma or retinal disease.

"He would then go through a series of motions with the patient to make it appear as if a laser eye surgery procedure was being performed when, in fact, it was not," the indictment said.

Garabet was also accused of overbilling for laser surgeries performed at his clinics. The indictment said he falsified patient records to circumvent a Medicare regulation designed to limit payments to doctors for certain services.

Under the regulation, an ophthalmologist performing surgery on a patient's two eyes is reimbursed at 100% of the fee schedule for the first eye and 50% for the second eye if the surgeries occurred in one session.

To inflate his reimbursement, Garabet allegedly ordered Laser Eye Centers personnel to have patients sign consent forms indicating they had agreed to operations on consecutive days, the indictment charged.

He also directed employees to create fraudulent "fee tickets" to show that the surgeries were performed on different days when they actually occurred on the same day, according to the indictment.

Laser Eye Centers has clinics in Los Angeles , Orange , Riverside , San Bernardino , San Diego , San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Ng, who is prosecuting the case, said Garabet will be allowed to surrender at a date that remains to be set. Garabet and Laser Eye Centers are each charged with 22 fraud counts.