A 48-year-old Azerbaijani national pleaded guilty in federal court in San Jose on September 8 to running a sham medical-equipment company that billed Medicare Advantage plans for at least $137 million in wound dressings and orthotic braces that patients never received or needed. Sevindik Huseynov, formerly of Sunnyvale, California, admitted three counts of health care fraud, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of California said. He remains in federal custody and is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2027.
A sham supply company and thousands of claims
Huseynov was chief executive officer of Vonyes Inc., which prosecutors describe as a fraudulent durable medical equipment company. In pleading guilty, he admitted to aiding and abetting a scheme to submit thousands of fraudulent claims to Medicare Advantage organizations, the private insurers that offer Medicare Part C plans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
The claims were filed on behalf of unsuspecting beneficiaries, using fraudulent patient and doctor data, and sought payment for equipment such as wound dressings and orthotic braces. Prosecutors said the equipment was not provided, was not needed by the patients and was not authorized by a medical provider. In total, Huseynov, through Vonyes, sought reimbursement of at least $137 million from the plans. In practice, that meant claims carrying the names of real Medicare enrollees who did not know about them, alongside doctor information for equipment no medical provider had authorized.
The scheme moved quickly. It began in January 2025 and continued until Huseynov’s arrest on June 17, 2025, a span of less than six months. Prosecutors said he worked with other people in the United States and abroad to push large volumes of claims to the Medicare Advantage organizations. A federal grand jury indicted him on September 25, 2025.
The order of the first hour: When a Medicare Advantage statement lists a brace or a box of wound dressings that never arrived, which call gets made first shapes how quickly the stolen identity stops being used. The first-hour recovery plan lays out that sequence in The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit.
Where the money went: $2.8 million and wires to Hong Kong
Most of the $137 million was never paid. The figure represents the reimbursements Vonyes sought, not what the plans sent back. Huseynov admitted receiving reimbursement checks totaling $2.8 million and depositing them into Vonyes bank accounts he had set up. After the money was deposited, he wired most of it to bank accounts in Hong Kong, prosecutors said.
The pace of the billing stands out. Spread across the roughly five and a half months between January 2025 and the June 17 arrest, at least $137 million in claims works out to an average of more than $24 million a month in requests for equipment that prosecutors say was never provided, never needed and never authorized. Against that volume, the $2.8 million in checks Huseynov admitted collecting equals about 2 cents on each dollar billed.
The case also shows that Medicare Advantage is not immune to the kind of equipment fraud long associated with traditional Medicare. Millions of older Americans now receive their benefits through private Medicare Advantage plans, and those plans pay equipment suppliers with money that ultimately comes from the Medicare program. Fraudulent claims filed in an enrollee’s name can also leave false entries in that person’s medical and billing history.
Sentencing set before Judge Noel Wise
The guilty plea does not end the case. Huseynov’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 2, 2027, at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Noel Wise. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for a violation of the federal health care fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1347. Any sentence will be imposed by the court after it considers the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing sentencing, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya Karwande is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lynette Dixon, Ambereise McElrath and Mimi Lam. The prosecution resulted from an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
The Justice Department tied the case to its broader anti-fraud campaign. On April 7, 2026, the department announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which investigates and prosecutes fraud against the American people. Prosecutors said the work supports the administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance, which targets fraud, waste and abuse in federal benefit programs.
How Medicare Advantage enrollees can spot equipment billed in their name
Because the claims in this case were filed on behalf of real beneficiaries who did not know about them, the first sign of a similar scheme often appears on paper. Medicare advises beneficiaries to compare the dates and services on their own calendars with the statements they receive and to confirm that each listed service was actually received. For Medicare Advantage members, that means reading the explanation of benefits sent by the plan, not only the bills from doctors.
Charges for braces, wound-care supplies or other equipment that was never ordered by a doctor or never delivered are a warning sign. Medicare says beneficiaries should not give their Medicare number to anyone other than their doctors and others they know should have it, and should not accept offers of money or gifts for free medical care.
Suspected fraud can be reported to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or through Medicare’s online fraud reporting page. Members of a Medicare Advantage or drug plan can also call the Investigations Medicare Drug Integrity Contractor at 1-877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379), and tips can go to the HHS Office of Inspector General through its hotline at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477). Prosecutors did not announce any restitution process for individual beneficiaries whose information was used.
When a stranger’s claims carry a retiree’s name
The beneficiaries in this case did nothing wrong, yet their names and Medicare details were attached to claims for equipment they never saw. The work of catching that, reporting it and keeping proof of every call falls to the enrollee or a family member.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit includes a fraud evidence and report log for recording each suspicious statement and report, along with the free credit-freeze steps for limiting further misuse of personal information.
Both are set out in plain language in The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit.
This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against the linked official sources.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
