The Department of Justice announced that it has filed criminal charges against hundreds of individuals for their “alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving over $14.6 billion in intended loss.”
Among the 324 defendants are 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other medical professionals.
The case represents an “unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit patients and taxpayers,” the DOJ explained.
One network involved in the fraudulent activities used a “network of foreign straw owners, including individuals sent into the United States from abroad, who, acting at the direction of others using encrypted messaging and assumed identities from overseas, strategically bought dozens of medical supply companies located across the United States,” the DOJ explained, noting that the network “rapidly submitted $10.6 billion in fraudulent health care claims to Medicare for urinary catheters and other durable medical equipment by exploiting the stolen identities of over one million Americans spanning all 50 states and using their confidential medical information to submit the fraudulent claims.”
Several other defendants used “artificial intelligence to create fake recordings of Medicare beneficiaries purportedly consenting to receive certain products,” the department added.
Activities uncovered in the operation also included fraudulent wound care and opioid trafficking, as well as telemedicine and genetic testing fraud.
“This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a social media statement that the development serves as the “largest healthcare fraud investigation, as measured by financial losses, in DOJ history.”
“Results matter. Talk is cheap. And this is not even the beginning of the beginning,” he added. “If you’re stealing from the public, or violating your oath to serve, then we’re coming for you too.”
