The federal judge dropped the hammer on Friday. Dr. Violetta Mailyan, 45, is going to federal prison for 15 years. The Glendale-based doctor defrauded Medicare of more than $45 million by billing for Botox injections that never happened.
It’s a staggering number. Prosecutors said she billed for treatments on days her clinic was closed. Or while she was in Mexico. A photo from her phone showed her on a beach in Cabo, Mexico, on a day she billed Medicare $34,560 for services in Glendale. She also forged signatures, including one from a man who was in prison.
Mailyan, who ran Healthy Way Medical Center, was convicted by a federal jury in May on nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of obstruction. She wasn’t just billing for treatments that didn’t occur; she billed for them for the wrong medical purpose. Medicare only covers Botox for chronic migraines. She got six times the payments of the next-highest group of providers, who were all neurologists.
The cash funded a lifestyle far beyond her means. She bought five properties in California, including in Surfside and Glendale, with combined equity of $7.3 million. Plus two Teslas, one a Cybertruck. And a 17th-century crossbow worth $12,000. The court ordered her to forfeit over $16 million in assets and pay $32.9 million in restitution.
The case lands hard amid the Trump administration’s intensified push against government fraud. President Trump established a task force in March, placing Vice President JD Vance in charge. The DOJ is now administering a $25 million whistleblower program, offering up to $30,000 to citizens whose tips lead to convictions. It’s a signal that the crackdown is not slowing down.