Fifteen charged in California healthcare fraud scheme worth $2bn
Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 22 Oct, 20:32 · Archive
Fifteen people have been charged with fraudulently siphoning nearly $2 billion in healthcare costs across California.
Fifteen people in Southern California have been charged with allegedly siphoning nearly $2 billion in fraudulent healthcare costs, the Department of Justice and state prosecutors announced on Thursday. At least eight have been arrested so far in connection with fraud at substance abuse treatment centers, hospice services and surgical practices.
At least six of those charged were doctors, including one accused of performing unnecessary and invasive surgeries to bill Medicaid for over $130 million. Colin M. McDonald, assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division, said: 'If you treat healthcare patients as dollar bills, the Department of Justice is coming for you.'
The operation is the latest in a recent wave of arrests related to alleged public benefits fraud. President Donald Trump's administration has made combating such fraud a priority in its second term. Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a $25 million program to encourage whistleblowers to report suspected fraud in the federal government.
How it is being reported
- California latest target in Department of Justice efforts to end public benefits fraudAuthorities have charged more than a dozen people in California with allegedly siphoning nearly $2 billion in fraudulent healthcare costs.Clickorlando · 22 Oct, 19:56
- California latest target in Department of Justice efforts to end public benefits fraudAuthorities have charged more than a dozen people in California with allegedly siphoning nearly $2 billion in fraudulent healthcare costs.News4Jax · 22 Oct, 19:56
In this story: Department of Justice · California · Colin M. McDonald · Bill Essayli · Donald Trump · JD Vance
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