Charges Brought Against 34 Individuals for $258M Alleged West Coast Medicare & Medicaid Fraud Scheme

Charges Brought Against 34 Individuals for Alleged West Coast Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Schemes Totaling $258 Million


Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced today a health care fraud enforcement action in the state of California, involving charges brought against a total of 26 individuals in the Central District of California for their alleged involvement in Medicare and Medicaid fraud schemes resulting in $257 million in billings. Of those charged, 14 were doctors or medical professionals. In addition, in the states of Arizona and Oregon, eight defendants, including three licensed medical professionals, have been charged with defrauding the Medicaid program out of over $1 million. These cases were investigated by each state’s respective Medicaid Fraud Control Units

Today’s enforcement action was led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section in conjunction with its Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) partners, a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG). In addition, the operation includes the participation of various other federal law enforcement agencies and the California Department of Justice, including the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Amtrak Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General and the California Department of Insurance.

The charges announced today aggressively target schemes billing Medicare and Medicaid for services, testing and prescriptions that were not medically necessary or not actually provided to beneficiaries.

“Today’s action shows that our ability to detect and prosecute health care fraud grows more sophisticated with each passing day,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Department of Justice is using every tool at our disposal to target the medical professionals and others who place their personal greed above the public good.”

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/charges-brought-against-34-individuals-alleged-west-coast-medicare-and-medicaid-fraud-schemes