Newport Beach Doctor Fakes Own Death Pleads Guilty 14 Years Later

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — The Newport Beach physician who faked his own death to dodge an insurance fraud case and was arrested after hiding in Russia and Egypt for 14 years pleaded guilty Tuesday to fleeing the district to evade justice.

58-year-old Tigran Svadjian entered his plea to a single federal count of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, a felony which carries a five-year maximum sentence.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 9 in Los Angeles.

Svadjian was arrested in Egypt in July and escorted back to the U.S. by federal agents 14 years after he fled to Russia, court papers show.

In 2002, he faced federal health care fraud charges in Sacramento for allegedly bilking the state Medi-Cal program out of more than $2.4 million in fraudulent insurance billings.

After agreeing to cooperate with the government's investigation, Svadjian was allowed to travel to Moscow to visit his ailing mother. But in October 2002, federal officials were notified that Svadjian died of pneumonia while in Russia and his remains had been cremated. The fraud charges were eventually dismissed.

Svadjian had been hiding in Egypt for much of the past 14 years, most recently working as a part-time scuba instructor. He was en route to Russia with a fake passport when he was apprehended.

Federal authorities indicated that the fraud charges would not be reinstated.

Shutterstock photo