A New York man faces charges of stealing nearly $700,000 from a medical clinic last year in Oconee County, according to documents recently filed with the county.
The suspect, Joe Aminian, 47, of Great Neck, a village located on Long Island, was arrested on May 12 and held in the Oconee County Jail until Aug. 12, when his bondsman arrived in Watkinsville with $65,000 cash to secure his release, the documents show.
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The initial warrant for Aminian was sworn out in July 2025 by Oconee Investigator Matthew Pilcher; however, authorities in New York did not act on the arrest warrant until this year.
The theft occurred in a fraud scheme that targeted the Georgia Skin Care & Aesthetic Dermatology clinic in Watkinsville, which used a billing service to make payments for services, according to the documents.
Pilcher said someone was able to access and compromise emails between the medical clinic and the billing firm. When this access was gained is unknown.
"They could have broken in months or weeks before, but we don't really know," he said, adding that it's unknown whose email was first breached.
However, in the scheme, the perpetrator posed as a representative of the billing company and requested that the medical clinic change its manner of payment; then they sent a new routing number, which allowed them to get the money, according to Pilcher.
The warrants show that various large amounts were obtained in the fraud through five transactions.
The fraud was discovered after the perpetrators sent messages to the medical clinic, which one employee found aggressive, so she asked another person associated with the clinic to reach out to the company, according to Pilcher. When this happened, they learned the billing company had not sent any emails in weeks. Pilcher said the fraud was exposed at this point.
The investigator said the investigation showed that Aminian opened the false account, received the money, and transferred the funds to another account.
After Aminian's arrest in May and denial of bail, his lawyer, Mark Hansford of Atlanta, sought an emergency bond hearing in August because his client had been incarcerated for 90 days without an indictment. Bond was originally denied because Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens ruled that Aminian, a U.S. citizen from Iran, posed a flight risk.
However, in the emergency bond hearing, Stephens gave the suspect bail, which he set at $65,000 cash. A 39-year-old man, also from Great Neck, New York, arrived at the courthouse on Aug. 8 with the cash, and Aminian was set free with the provisions that he have no contact with the victims, and he is banished from Georgia except for court appointments and visits to Clayton County, to confer with his attorney.
Hansford had argued to the judge that upon his client's initial arrest, prosecutors "vaguely suggested" Aminian might face charges in New Jersey. But that never happened, Hansford wrote in his motion.
Aminian nor his lawyer immediately returned telephone calls for comment.
Aminian has lived in the Great Neck area for 19 years and is married with three children, ages 16 and younger, court records show. For the past year, his lawyer reported to the court that his client has operated his own business.
The Western Circuit District Attorney's Office presented the case on Aug. 10 to an Oconee County grand jury, and it returned a five-count felony theft indictment against Aminian. An arraignment date has not been set.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: NY man faces charges in $700K Oconee clinic fraud case | Exclusive