Mike Sarian Sued for Alleged $14M Diversion From South Florida Hospitals

A new lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court accuses Michael “Mike” Sarian, the founder and former CEO of Healthcare Systems of America-Florida LLC, of diverting at least $14 million from five South Florida hospitals for his “lavish lifestyle” while the facilities struggled to pay staff, vendors and bills. The complaint, reported earlier this month, includes a redacted bank document showing a $109,000 wire to the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills for his son’s baptism and alleges Sarian forged an employee’s signature to divert another $120,000. Sarian, ousted as CEO in March, has denied the allegations and called the suit a “retaliation move” by Faisal Gill, his former attorney who now runs the Florida hospital system.

The Alleged $14M Diversion

The complaint, filed by several affiliates of HSA Florida in Miami-Dade Circuit Court earlier this month, lays out a series of transfers plaintiffs say Sarian made from hospital accounts into his own. “While the hospitals suffered, Sarian funneled money into his family trust account and threw lavish parties for his family at the hospitals’ expense,” the lawsuit alleges. The plaintiffs are asking the court to order Sarian to return the funds, pay damages and produce a full accounting of the flagged transactions.

Sarian’s defense, delivered to the Miami Herald by text message with his wife Evelina, is that the baptism payment was authorized by in-house counsel as “partial loan repayment to Mike,” referring to a personal advance he says he made to cover payroll. Evelina Sarian, in a phone interview with the Herald, called the lawsuit a “retaliation move” by Gill, the family’s former attorney and now the new CEO and chair of the Florida hospitals. The new Miami-Dade filing was first reported by the Herald and the New York Post followed with coverage of the $109,000 wire to the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, which the Post described as among the “most eye-popping” of the alleged diversions. Sarian, in earlier statements to the Herald, has called his ouster a “coup” and said he was “in fear for his life” and his family’s safety.

The plaintiffs’ accounting demand is the suit’s central financial ask. They want the money returned to the hospital system, where they argue it belongs, and they accuse Sarian of refusing to provide a complete record of the transfers. The transfers span the period from the September 2024 takeover of the Steward hospitals through January 2026, just before Sarian was removed.

• $1,280,000 moved to Sarian’s personal accounts within one day of the landlord’s $16 million funding of HSA
• $659,100 Sarian cites as a personal advance to cover payroll, which he says the baptism wire partially repaid
• $750,000+ amount in controversy in the separate March 2026 bank-account dispute
• Bank accounts in the dispute receive reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, United and Blue Cross Blue Shield

That defense and the financial figures behind it are the new filing’s center of gravity. Sarian has, in earlier statements to the Herald, separately said the money was moved as internal “loans” to keep the systems’ payrolls running.

He is stealing my company that I own 100%. He is terrorizing my family and my employees and even top executives were in constant fear for their positions in the company.

The text came from Mike Sarian, the ousted founder and former CEO of Healthcare Systems of America-Florida LLC, sent to the Miami Herald in response to the new Miami-Dade filing. His broader defense, also to the Herald, is that money moved across the health systems was meant as internal “loans” to help each system cover payroll, and that Gill, as the health network’s attorney, was “supposed to do the paperwork.” Sarian has also said he never drew a salary from HSA and frequently used his personal American Express card to keep hospital operations afloat.

Four Lawsuits Across Three States

Gill and Sarian are not strangers. Gill served as the in-house counsel for Sarian’s growing hospital empire and as a family attorney for the Sarians before he was installed as CEO and sole board member of HSA Florida on March 3. The two men now face off in at least four legal actions across three states. Evelina Sarian, Sarian’s wife, has framed the entire barrage as a “retaliation move” by Gill against the family.

Gill previously served as the lead attorney representing NOR Healthcare during Prospect Medical Group’s ongoing bankruptcy case, and his LinkedIn profile identifies him as chief legal officer of American Healthcare Systems, the Los Angeles-based management company that runs HSA Florida. Sarian has consistently told the Herald that Gill, as the health network’s attorney, was “supposed to do the paperwork” for the financial transfers now at the center of the lawsuits.

• March 5, 2026, Miami-Dade: HSA Florida sued Sarian over his attempt to seize control of the health system’s bank accounts the day after his ouster. A judge later barred him from the accounts.
• April 2026, Nevada: Gill filed his own lawsuit against Sarian. The complaint’s contents have not been made public.
• June 2026, Miami-Dade: Several HSA Florida affiliates sued Sarian, alleging he diverted hospital operating funds for personal use, with $14 million as a floor figure.
• California: The Sarians sued Gill, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty, legal malpractice, and that Gill altered NOR Healthcare’s corporate documents to include a 10% transfer clause upon Sarian’s death.

The March bank-account restraining order, the first round of the litigation, was the only public court action until the new June complaint. That earlier order barred Sarian from accessing or transferring funds from the health system’s accounts at City National Bank and from presenting himself as an HSA representative. The amount in controversy in that lawsuit exceeds $750,000, per the filing, which alleged Sarian emailed the bank the day after his ouster asking it to remove two HSA officers as signers and to add his wife Evelina “as a signor on all accounts effective immediately.” A settlement in that dispute later fell through, per Evelina Sarian, and the courtroom battle has since widened.

The Five Hospitals in the Crosshairs

Palmetto General and the other four South Florida hospitals caught in the fight are the ones with the most at stake and the least say in who runs them. The facilities are Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, Coral Gables Hospital, Hialeah Hospital, North Shore Medical Center in North Miami-Dade and Florida Medical Center in Lauderdale Lakes. Together, they form the operational core of HSA Florida, the division now suing Sarian for the alleged diversions. The hospitals’ bank accounts, the ones the court froze in March, hold reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, United and Blue Cross Blue Shield that fund day-to-day operations, including payroll and vendor payments. Patient care, employees, and vendors in those five South Florida hospitals have the most to lose if the legal fight bleeds into operations.

The new lawsuit describes the hospitals as remaining in a “financial freefall,” cutting services and struggling to buy supplies, pay providers and keep up with taxes and other bills. It alleges Sarian’s transfers “directly contributed” to the current shaky financial condition of the hospitals, including “impairing plaintiffs’ ability to meet payroll, vendor, physician, service-provider, patient care, regulatory, and other operating obligations.” The suit also alleges Sarian’s “scheme” to divert HSA operational funds caused “nearly significant damage” across the health network, including “jeopardiz[ing] patient safety.” Gill, through his attorney, told the Herald the hospitals remain “safe, fully operational” and committed to “providing high-quality healthcare every day.”

A Landlord’s Vote and a Founder’s Ouster

HSA Florida’s structure made the takeover possible and the ouster fast. The company was registered in Nevada on August 18, 2024, weeks before Steward Health Care struck a deal with its landlord Medical Properties Trust to hand over the five South Florida hospitals. HSA was tapped as the “interim manager” while MPT hunted for a long-term operator. The deal is part of the same restructuring that has now produced a separate spinoff, the Sarian-founded NOR Healthcare Systems, which bought six bankrupt California hospitals from Prospect Medical Group last year.

When MPT needed a CEO, the lease gave it a vote. MPT used its “proxy rights over governance matters of the HSA Florida System” to install Gill as chief executive and sole board member on March 3, the same special meeting at which Sarian was removed. The landlord told the Herald it is “not involved in the lawsuit” over the bank accounts and said HSA is “fully current on rent owed.” Gill, before the move, was listed in court filings as the lead attorney representing NOR Healthcare during Prospect Medical Group’s ongoing bankruptcy case, and his LinkedIn profile identifies him as chief legal officer of American Healthcare Systems, the Los Angeles-based management company that runs HSA Florida. The current arrangement, in short: a hospital network that came out of one bankruptcy is now run by a former family attorney who took over from its founder via a landlord’s vote.

A settlement in the bank-account dispute fell through, Evelina Sarian told the Herald, and the courtroom battle has only widened since. The new June complaint makes the financial demands explicit: Sarian is to return the funds he allegedly diverted, the suit says, with the hospitals arguing those resources were diverted from operations and patient care. MPT’s involvement in the governance fight is the unusual piece of corporate plumbing that lets a landlord pick a CEO, and the proxy rights language in the master lease is the lever that made the March 3 leadership flip possible.

The Steward Pattern That Preceded HSA

The new complaint draws a direct line back to the hospitals’ previous operator. It says the South Florida facilities “had languished under Steward Health while then-Steward CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre lived a luxurious lifestyle.” Steward’s 2024 bankruptcy deal with its landlord handed the five South Florida hospitals to HSA Florida, and the Chapter 11 filing set off a chain of hospital sales, layoffs and closures across Steward’s 31-hospital network. The de la Torre comparison in the new complaint links the current fight to the same pattern of executive conduct that preceded the Steward collapse.

HSA was supposed to be the next chapter. Hospital employees had hoped the 2024 takeover would be a “new beginning” after Steward’s collapse. Instead, the new complaint describes a network where services have been cut, supplies delayed and provider payments missed. Gill, through his attorney, told the Herald the hospitals are “safe, fully operational, and unwavering in our commitment to providing high-quality healthcare every day.”

Both Sides’ Public Defenses

Sarian, in his text messages, has framed the fight as a corporate theft. The Sarian family has alleged that Gill altered NOR Healthcare’s corporate documents to include a 10% transfer clause upon Sarian’s death. Gill has denied those allegations, which were first laid out in the California complaint the Sarians filed against him.

Evelina Sarian says her husband is the victim of “traps” set by Gill, whom she described as a longtime friend and trusted adviser who “was planning all along to take over the company.” She told the Herald that “all of it, they are alleging without any proof.”

Gill has fired back in his own statement, provided to the Herald through his attorney. His statement is the most complete public defense of his role in the new Miami-Dade complaint. The Sarians’ California suit, by contrast, has not produced an on-the-record public defense of the same scope.

The allegations made by Mike and Evelina Sarian are false, defamatory, and without merit. This lawsuit seeks to have Mr. Sarian return the funds he took, ensuring those resources are properly directed toward hospital operations and patient care. We have full confidence that the judicial system will resolve this matter based on the evidence presented in court. Our hospitals remain safe, fully operational, and unwavering in our commitment to providing high-quality healthcare every day.

The statement came from Faisal Gill, the new CEO and chair of HSA Florida, distributed to the Miami Herald through his attorney in response to the June filing. It is the most detailed public defense Gill has issued in the new lawsuit. The Sarians have separately accused Gill of misleading them as their attorney since 2021 and using the position to capture privileged information for his own benefit, a characterization Gill’s statement did not address.

Where the Hospitals Stand Now

The hospitals continue to operate, by every public account. HSA Florida, in a March statement, said the dispute “has no impact on our clinical operations” and that it would like to “reassure our patients, staff, and the communities we serve” that patient care and payroll are continuing uninterrupted. Gill’s June statement, through his attorney, repeated that the hospitals are “safe, fully operational, and unwavering in our commitment to providing high-quality healthcare every day.” The complaint paints a different picture: services cut, supplies delayed, providers unpaid, taxes and other bills falling behind.

A March hearing on a longer-term preliminary injunction against Sarian has not been publicly resolved. The parties’ settlement talks collapsed earlier this year, per Evelina Sarian, and the next round of filings is expected to land in the Miami-Dade docket this summer. The Steward-era stakes for the five South Florida communities have not changed under HSA, and the next public marker will be how the new Miami-Dade complaint’s accounting demand is answered, and whether Judge Rebull’s March order against Sarian on the bank accounts is extended or modified as the case moves toward discovery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the new lawsuit against Mike Sarian alleging?

The complaint, filed by HSA Florida affiliates in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in June 2026, alleges Sarian diverted hospital operating funds for personal use between September 2024 and January 2026. The most cited line items include a wire to the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills for his son’s baptism and a separate transfer tied to a forged employee signature. In a text to the Herald, Sarian rejected the lawsuit as retaliation by Gill.

Which hospitals are affected by the legal fight?

Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, Coral Gables Hospital, Hialeah Hospital, North Shore Medical Center in North Miami-Dade and Florida Medical Center in Lauderdale Lakes form the South Florida footprint. HSA took them over from bankrupt Steward Health Care System in 2024 as part of a deal brokered by the hospitals’ landlord.

Who is Faisal Gill?

Gill is the current CEO and chair of HSA Florida, a position he has held since March 3, 2026, when landlord Medical Properties Trust used its proxy rights to install him after ousting Sarian. Before the leadership flip, Gill worked inside Sarian’s hospital group and handled personal legal matters for the Sarian family. He now also runs NOR Healthcare Systems, a separate Nevada-registered company that operates Sarian’s California hospitals.

Is patient care being affected?

HSA Florida and Gill have said the hospitals are “safe, fully operational” and have argued the legal fight does not affect clinical care. The new complaint, by contrast, describes the hospitals as remaining in a “financial freefall” with services being cut, supplies delayed and provider payments missed. It alleges Sarian’s transfers “directly contributed” to the current shaky financial condition. Patient care at the five hospitals is the live question the new accounting demand is designed to answer.

What other lawsuits are part of this dispute?

There are at least four active cases. A June 2026 Miami-Dade suit by HSA affiliates against Sarian over the alleged diversions is the newest. An April 2026 Nevada suit Gill filed against Sarian is pending. A California suit the Sarians filed against Gill alleges breaches of fiduciary duty and legal malpractice. A separate March 2026 Miami-Dade dispute over control of HSA’s bank accounts at City National Bank produced a temporary restraining order against Sarian from Judge Thomas Rebull.