Michael Sarian: $14M Florida Suit, Nevada Claims, Countersuit

The Michael Sarian lawsuit is actually a cluster of suits in three states. In June 2026, Healthcare Systems of America and five Florida hospitals sued Sarian in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, accusing him of funneling at least $14 million from hospital accounts to fund personal spending between September 2024 and January 2026.¹ Related filings in Nevada put the figure far higher. Sarian, the founder and majority owner of American Healthcare Systems, denies the allegations and has filed his own suit in California calling the removal an “illegal coup” by his former general counsel and his minority shareholder.²

The $14 Million Florida Complaint

The June 11, 2026, complaint describes Sarian treating the hospital system as his “personal piggy bank,” diverting operational funds to pay for what the plaintiffs called a “lavish lifestyle.”³¹ The specific transactions the lawsuit identifies include:

A wire of more than $109,000 from a corporate account to a Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills for his son’s 2025 baptism, with bank records allegedly labeling the purpose “baptism.”⁴
A $1.28 million transfer from the HSA corporate account to Sarian’s personal accounts within a day of the system receiving $16 million from its landlord in 2024.¹
Another $120,000 allegedly diverted after Sarian forged or caused the forgery of an employee’s signature.¹
Transfers into his family trust and payments for “lavish parties for his family.”¹

The complaint ties those diversions to real operational harm, saying they impaired the hospitals’ ability to meet payroll, pay vendors, compensate physicians, and fund patient care.¹

The Broader Nevada Allegations

Related litigation filed in Nevada puts the figure much higher. Those filings allege Sarian moved nearly $54 million between 2021 and 2025 into entities he controlled, while leaving substantial payroll tax liabilities unpaid.⁵ The claims also include lease payments for a Rolls-Royce and transfers to family members.⁶

How Sarian Was Removed

Sarian’s former business partners moved against him in early 2026. Faisal Gill, his former general counsel, and Dr. Aramais Paronyan, the company’s minority shareholder, pointed in court filings to irregularities in cash management, transfers totaling more than $50 million, and millions in unpaid payroll taxes.⁷

On March 3, 2026, Sarian was formally removed as board chairman and CEO of HSA America-Florida. The complaint alleges he then instructed City National Bank of Florida to remove existing account signatories and add unauthorized ones. On March 13, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge ordered the bank to strip Sarian as an authorized signatory and restrained him from accessing the funds.⁷

Paronyan’s role is itself notable. Sarian initially claimed sole ownership of his company, but corporate documents later showed he was a 51% majority owner as of 2022, with Paronyan holding the remainder. Paronyan had been arrested in 1998 on federal charges of conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud, and wire fraud tied to a scheme in which his medical laboratory allegedly billed the government for at least $13 million in unnecessary or unperformed blood tests, and he later settled by paying $10 million.⁸⁵

Sarian’s Countersuit and Defense

Sarian sued first. On February 24, 2026, before his formal removal, he filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging civil extortion, breach of fiduciary duty, and assault against Gill and Paronyan. The complaint claims Paronyan physically blocked him in his office, threatened to kill him, suggested he could “sell his case to Chechens,” and threatened Sarian’s wife and newborn baby.⁹⁷ Sarian’s attorneys filed an amended California complaint on June 23, 2026, alleging an unlawful effort to seize his businesses through coercion.⁶

On the specific spending claims, Sarian has pushed back point by point. He and his wife, Evelina, argue the $109,000 baptism wire was an authorized partial repayment of $659,100 he had previously advanced from his personal account to cover payroll.⁴⁶ In a June 2026 statement, Sarian called the claims “lies and made-up stuff” and said he would “vigorously defend” himself.²

Fallout at the Hospitals

The dispute has reached into day-to-day operations. Former Randolph Health CEO Timothy Ford, who was fired by Sarian in March 2026, said in a declaration that Sarian routinely ordered transfers of millions of dollars out of Randolph Health to other hospitals and corporate entities, that accounts payable at the North Carolina hospital exceeded $13 million before his termination, and that he had been placed on administrative leave after refusing to authorize another transfer. Ford also alleged Sarian refused to invest in capital improvements, leading to recurring roof leaks and HVAC failures.⁶²

Wells Fargo froze Randolph Health’s bank account on March 25, 2026, citing uncertainty over who controlled the company; Sarian said the account was reactivated in late May.⁵ Randolph County, which had forgiven $1.1 million of its original $12 million loan in 2024, formally requested repayment of at least $3.3 million in summer 2025, saying Sarian violated key loan terms; county officials put the total owed at $11.3 million.² KeyBank issued a $50 million default notice to Randolph Health in April 2026.

In Florida, Medical Properties Trust, the landlord for the five hospitals acquired out of Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy, sent HSA a default notice in late February 2026 after missed payments.¹⁰ In a March 10, 2026, public statement, MPT said HSA was “fully current on rent owed” and that it did not expect the situation to affect rent collections going forward.¹¹

Where the Cases Stand

As of late June 2026, lawsuits are active in Nevada, Florida, and California, with claims running in both directions over corporate control, financial misconduct, and alleged coercion.⁶ No court has issued findings on the merits. District judges in Florida and California have blocked Sarian from regaining access to two of his three companies, though he retains majority ownership of all three and continues to contest his removal.² No criminal charges have been reported against Sarian, and available reporting does not indicate any investigation by the Justice Department, the FBI, or any state attorney general’s office.

1
Miami Herald. Former CEO Accused of Funneling $14M From Hospitals
2
The Assembly. Mike Sarian Randolph Health Lawsuits
3
Law360. Hospital Co. Says Ex-CEO Siphoned $14M for Personal Use
4
New York Post. Ex-Hospital CEO Accused of Funneling $14M for Lavish Lifestyle, Son’s $109K Beverly Hills Baptism
5
The Assembly. Asheboro Randolph Health Sarian
6
Becker’s Hospital Review. Health System Owner Faces Allegations of Diverting Millions in Widening Multistate Legal Battle
7
Becker’s Hospital Review. Former CEO of 5 Florida Hospitals Sued Over Bank Account Control
8
Los Angeles Times. Dr. Aramais Paronyan Arrested in Lab Fraud Case
9
Miami Herald. Healthcare Systems of America Leadership Dispute
10
Bloomberg Law. Medical Properties Trust Exposed to Manager Feud at Key Tenant
11
Medical Properties Trust. Medical Properties Trust Issues Statement on Healthcare Systems of America