US man gets prison sentence for falsified medical devices

A US man has been sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for running a scam in which he knowingly sold used skin-tightening medical devices misbranded as new, as well as counterfeit devices that he claimed were to be used with fat-reducing laser machines.

Kambiz Youabian (50) of Tarzana, San Fernando Valley, pleaded guilty in January 2023 to one count of mail fraud and one count of introducing a misbranded medical device into interstate commerce in connection with the offences and was ordered to pay back nearly $6m in illicit gains.

Youabian owned and operated MSY Technologies, a West Los Angeles-based company that did business under the names Thermagen and Global Electronic Supplies (GES). From March 2016 to June 2022, he purchased used transducers – medical devices used to tighten the skin using ultrasound – and sold them on as new.

Transducers are designed to provide no more than 2,400 treatments and, after this number is reached, the devices are considered depleted and should be disposed of.

Youabian picked up the used units for as little as $50, falsified their serial numbers and then passed them on to unsuspecting purchasers at a hefty markup, sometimes as much as $1,695, through his Thermagen company.

To conceal his connection to Thermagen, Youabian used names of fabricated Thermagen employees on correspondences with victim providers and used out-of-state commercial mailboxes for Thermagen’s return of address on shipments, which he sent through the US mail.

He also shipped counterfeit PAC keys, medical devices used to operate laser machines designed to reduce fat on patients, through the mail.

In June 2022, law enforcement executed search warrants at Youabian’s home and the GES-Thermagen office in West Los Angeles.

In the GES-Thermagen office, law enforcement seized 75 transducers in various states of refurbishment, a manufacturing workstation containing tools and transducer parts, and detailed records of GES and Thermagen’s expenses.

Photo by De an Sun on Unsplash