A former Antelope Valley physician was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances — including opioid-based medications — during telemedicine sessions with “patients” from across the United States. Raphael Tomas Malikian, 39, who resides in Llano and Palmdale, was also ordered to pay a fine of $20,000. The Medical Board of California suspended Malikian’s medical license in November 2021. His license expired in November 2022.
From at least December 2019 to August 2021, Malikian was a licensed physician in California and, in this role, was authorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe medication. Malikian also owned and operated Happy Family Medicine, a medical clinic that was advertised as being in a co-working space in Hollywood, but primarily offered telehealth services via telephone or text message communications. Malikian issued prescriptions for controlled substances to customers without first obtaining the person’s full medical history, conducting a physical examination, requiring medical testing, or utilizing diagnostic tools. Malikian did not verify his customers’ identities before prescribing controlled substances, and he allowed customers to obtain prescriptions in the names of others. He also worked with two co-conspirators, who provided Malikian with false names, addresses, dates of birth, and Malikian issued controlled substance prescriptions accordingly, which the co-conspirators then filled and re-sold on the black market. Many of Malikian’s fraudulent controlled substance prescriptions contained notes on the prescriptions or accompanying documentation that falsely urged pharmacies not to verify such prescriptions because medications were emergently needed and the failure to dispense could be life threatening because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
