Southern California has long been a mecca for substance abuse treatment centers. Why not? Abusers can get clean in the warm sunshine, and they come from all over to do it, sometimes at their own expense and sometimes at taxpayers expense.
The Feds allege they busted ‘body broker’ ring–luring homeless addicts to California for fake drug treatment and healthcare.
From the DOJ’s press release:
LOS ANGELES – The Justice Department today announced charges against 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, for health care fraud schemes that collectively resulted in $2 billion in fraudulent claims to government and private health care programs, including sham substance abuse treatment programs, unnecessary artery treatments, and bogus hospice services.
The fraud alleged includes more than $1.6 billion billed in a scheme to lure vulnerable individuals to California for sham substance abuse treatment, the largest case of its type ever prosecuted by the Department; $134 million fraudulently billed to Medicare for unnecessary atherectomy procedures that resulted in injury to patients; and more than $138 million fraudulently billed to Medicare in three different hospice fraud schemes where the patients were not terminally ill.
In addition, a fourth defendant was indicted after previously being charged by complaint in a $270 million scheme to defraud Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, by submitting pharmacy claims for bogus prescriptions.
Eight defendants were arrested today. Five of the defendants arrested today are expected to make their initial appearances this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Two defendants arrested today are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas, and one in the Northern District of Illinois.
“These charges include the largest sober home fraud scheme the Department has ever prosecuted, and a scheme involving unnecessary invasive procedures that was detected through data analytics,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Our message is simple: if you steal health care dollars from the American taxpayer or abuse your position to harm patients, we are coming for you – and the data will lead us to you.”
“It is especially egregious when doctors and other health care professionals, who pledged to do no harm, resort to petty greed and criminality,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “The cases announced today represent billions of dollars in intended losses. Every dollar drained out of our private and public health insurance systems is one less dollar available to those who truly need it.”
“Today the FBI and our partners executed 8 arrests, with 7 additional defendants charged, after the subjects involved allegedly orchestrated a multi-year healthcare fraud scheme resulting in $1.8 billion in losses,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The defendants – including 6 medical professionals – made fraudulent claims to steal from taxpayer funded healthcare and insurance programs, including substance abuse treatment programs, hospice care, and Medicare programs in the Los Angeles area designed to help the most vulnerable. Under President Trump’s leadership with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, stealing from American taxpayers will no longer be tolerated in this country. This FBI will continue to move aggressively with our Department of Justice to dismantle fraud networks stealing from hard working taxpayers.”
“Healthcare fraud cheats American taxpayers and health care programs out of billions of dollars,” said Patrick Grandy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to do everything in our power to safeguard our government health care programs and the taxpayers picking up the bill.”
“The magnitude of the fraud alleged in these cases reflects the extraordinary lengths bad actors will go to profit at the expense of patients,” said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Miranda L. Bennett of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Today’s takedown sends a clear message: no matter how complex the scheme, those who exploit patients and steal from federal health care programs will be identified and held accountable. HHS-OIG remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect beneficiaries, safeguard taxpayer dollars, and preserve the integrity of federal health care programs.”
“By diverting critical funding from a vulnerable community, the accused stripped away a vital lifeline for those seeking addiction recovery support,” said David Olesky, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division. “DEA is honored to be a part of this multi-agency effort investigating and holding accountable those that exploited their positions of trust within the medical community. I am proud of the long hours and tireless commitment our DEA Diversion team and our partners poured into this investigation.”
All suspects are innocnet until proven guilty in a court of law.
