A Texas Department of Insurance investigator and a crime analyst helped identify a Russian national accused of submitting $400 mn in fraudulent Medicare claims.
Authorities said Nikolai Buzolin was living in Houston in 2025 when he set up a durable medical equipment company and used stolen patient and physician identities to file false claims with health plans handling Medicare Part C.
According to the Texas Department of Insurance, he opened eight bank accounts and deposited $1.7 mn in reimbursements.
The case started to move after several patients reviewed their explanation of benefits and spotted charges for medical equipment they did not need, tied to doctors they had never seen.
Sgt. Kevin Mannion, an investigator with TDI’s fraud unit, said those complaints helped expose the scheme.
Mannion worked as part of the FBI Task Force in Houston, which investigated and monitored Buzolin. By the time the task force reached his Houston home, he had already left.
A TDI crime analyst then traced Buzolin’s vehicle to Los Angeles. Local FBI agents arrested him there as he was boarding a flight to Russia. Tight timing, to put it mildly. Buzolin faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
