STATEN ISLAND, New York—A New York man was sentenced to 37 months in prison for allegedly conspiring to launder nearly $1.5 million in illicit healthcare fraud proceeds through multiple domestic and global banks on behalf of a Transnational Criminal Organization.
According to court documents, Elnar Zarbailov, 42, of Staten Island, New York, and dual citizen of the United States and Azerbaijan, was a fixer and money launderer for the foreign-based organization that allegedly spearheaded the largest healthcare fraud case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, as uncovered by Operation Gold Rush. The organization, based in Russia and elsewhere, orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme to target, exploit and steal from Medicare and private health insurance companies.
As alleged in the charging documents, the organization exploited the United States’ financial system by depositing insurance reimbursement checks from the fraud. The healthcare fraud proceeds were particularly susceptible to laundering because they originated from legitimate sources—Medicare and established private insurance carriers—giving the funds the initial appearance of legitimacy. To gain access to the United States’ financial system, the organization deployed a range of tactics to circumvent internal controls at multiple banks and, in some cases, coordinated directly with associates employed at the banks.
As further alleged, to open financial accounts the organization armed its nominee owners, many of whom were not lawfully present in the United States, with false sale documentation and false corporate registration documents. This documentation falsely reflected that the nominee owners maintained beneficial ownership and control of various fraudulent durable medical equipment (DME) companies. This disguised the true beneficial ownership and control of the companies and the financial accounts. Upon opening the financial accounts, the organization funneled fraud proceeds from Medicare and other legitimate health care insurers into the accounts as seemingly “clean” money. From there, the organization siphoned off the funds to shell companies and various banks overseas.
Zarbailov facilitated a critical element of the transnational scheme. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Zarbailov deposited fraud proceeds from five DME companies linked to the scheme and transferred the fraud proceeds to other accounts, including accounts located overseas.
Zarbailov was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2024 as he attempted to leave the United States to Azerbaijan. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in October 2025. In addition to the prison term, Zarbailov was ordered to pay $1,457,898 in forfeiture.