Glendale Man Who Played Role in Kickback Scheme That Bilked San Francisco Food Company Sentenced to Federal Prison

LOS ANGELES—A Glendale man who pleaded guilty in a scheme that led to his San Francisco employer suffering losses of more than $2 million—a plot that has connections to a kickback scheme that defrauded Huntington Hospital in Pasadena—has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison.

Tony Hamedany, 58, who formerly resided in Hillsborough, California, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Percy Anderson, who also ordered the defendant to pay $1.54 million in restitution to his former employer, Columbus Manufacturing Inc., the San Francisco-based manufacturer of salame and other deli products.

Tony Hamedany pleaded guilty in October 2011 to two counts of mail fraud in relation to a kickback scheme he orchestrated during his tenure as director of engineering for Columbus. Tony Hamedany’s position at Columbus enabled him to negotiate construction contracts that he agreed to award in exchange for kickback payments from vendors. The construction contracts—for construction projects related to the salame company’s production facilities in South San Francisco—were adjusted so that vendors would pay Tony Hamedany kickbacks from payments they received from the contracts with Columbus.

Among the people who paid kickbacks to Tony Hamedany was Alexander Svidler, 55, of San Francisco, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud stemming from his participation in the kickback schemes pertaining to both Huntington Hospital and Columbus and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

Tony Hamedany is the brother of David Hamedany, 56, also of Glendale, who is serving a three-year prison term for executing a $4.8 million kickback and fictitious billing scheme during his tenure as director of construction for Huntington Memorial Hospital. The Hamedany brothers ran separate, but parallel, kickback schemes and commingled proceeds in bank accounts in the names of entities formed by the brothers. In addition to the Hamedany brothers and Svidler, an attorney has pleaded guilty pursuant to this investigation. John Haw, 52, of Aliso Viejo, pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud in relation to the Huntington Hospital kickback scheme in which Haw received business in exchange for kicking back money to an entity set up by the Hamedany brothers. Haw is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on May 6.

The investigation into the kickback schemes, which cost victim companies approximately $7 million, was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.