New York business owner sentenced to prison for laundering health care fraud proceeds

A Staten Island business owner was sentenced to 37 months in prison for laundering nearly $1.5 million in health care fraud proceeds tied to a transnational criminal organization, the Justice Department said Monday.

Elnar Zarbailov, 42, of Staten Island, New York, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Federal prosecutors said he used shell companies and domestic and overseas bank accounts to move the money on behalf of a criminal network linked to Operation Gold Rush.

The Justice Department said Zarbailov was arrested at JFK Airport in September 2024 while attempting to leave the United States. He was also ordered to forfeit $1,457,898.

Operation Gold Rush is part of a broader federal health care fraud investigation that authorities described last year as one of the largest such cases ever charged by the Justice Department by loss amount.

The case adds to a series of enforcement actions tied to the scheme, as federal prosecutors continue to pursue defendants accused of helping launder proceeds from the underlying fraud.

What prosecutors said

According to the Justice Department, Zarbailov helped move illicit funds through shell companies and multiple bank accounts. Prosecutors said the money came from health care fraud proceeds generated by a transnational criminal organization.

The sentencing marks a new step in the long-running Operation Gold Rush case, which federal authorities have used to target both the underlying fraud and the financial infrastructure that helped conceal it.