San Jose fraud prevention expert charged with healthcare fraud

by: Ryan Mense

(KRON) — A woman who worked as a security manager at Nvidia and regularly spoke as an expert on fraud prevention was charged with submitting 167 fraudulent healthcare claims against the Santa Clara-based tech company, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Faranak Firozan, 47, is accused of submitting the fraudulent claims between November 2020 and January 2024 to Nvidia’s self-insured health plan, according to prosecutors. The DA’s office said that many of the claims were either entirely made up or that bills were altered by changing service dates.

“Providers verified that services listed in her claims were either not performed at all or were duplicated claims,” the DA’s office wrote.

The scheme began to unravel in August 2024, according to prosecutors, after the California Department of Insurance received a suspected fraudulent claim referral from Cigna, which administered Nvidia’s health plan.

“On her LinkedIn page, Firozan described herself as an expert in abuse prevention systems and fraud investigations for financial institutions,” the DA’s office wrote. “In 2020, she provided training on cyber laundering for the Information Systems Security Association Silicon Valley Chapter.”

Firozan was charged with altering medical records with fraudulent intent and preparing false statements in connection with insurance claims. She also faces an added aggravated white-collar crime enhancement.

Firozan is scheduled to be arraigned on July 15. If convicted, prosecutors said she faces years in prison and would be ordered to pay restitution.