Federal authorities detained eight individuals Thursday in connection with healthcare fraud schemes worth $50 million across the Los Angeles region.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, five cases focused on hospice facilities in Glendale, Artesia, Tarzana and Simi Valley that allegedly submitted Medicare bills for patients who weren’t terminally ill and didn’t meet hospice care requirements. Two additional arrests occurred in Idaho and Los Angeles for allegedly defrauding a West Coast labor union’s healthcare programs. An eighth person was taken into custody in Los Angeles for allegedly falsifying immigration medical paperwork.
The current administration has targeted California, particularly the Los Angeles region, as part of its nationwide anti-fraud campaign, claiming the Democratic-controlled state isn’t doing enough to prevent improper spending.
During a press conference announcing the charges, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, appointed by Trump, described California as the “kingdom of fraud.”
Governor Gavin Newsom’s office responded that the state has already taken aggressive action against hospice fraud, pointing out that Newsom enacted legislation in 2021 to halt new hospice licensing due to fraud concerns. The office also noted that the state has canceled over 280 hospice licenses within two years and currently has 300 providers under investigation.
“Glad the federal government is finally stepping up to do their part,” Newsom posted on X.
The administration has spotlighted fraud nationwide across federal benefit programs including Medicare and Medicaid. In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order establishing an anti-fraud task force headed by Vice President JD Vance, which held its inaugural meeting last week. While most efforts have concentrated on Democratic-led states, Republican-controlled Florida was also requested to provide additional information about their methods for identifying, preventing and addressing Medicaid fraud.
“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for criminals who defraud American taxpayers,” Essayli stated in announcing the California charges.
Dr. Mehmet Oz announced during a press conference that federal officials “took out” 221 hospices over the past 10 weeks. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which Oz oversees, did not immediately respond to requests for additional details about those actions. CMS certifies hospice providers to accept patients with government-subsidized health insurance.
“We’re going to review every single hospice in California,” Oz declared.
In January, Oz posted a social media video outside an Armenian bakery in Los Angeles, claiming that approximately $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud had occurred in the city and “quite a bit of it” was operated by “the Russian Armenian mafia.” This prompted a civil rights complaint from Newsom’s office, which accused Oz of targeting Armenians with “baseless and racially charged allegations.”
Oz’s agency also revealed plans for a new, publicly accessible hospice scoring system using care metrics to better identify potentially fraudulent facilities.
The most significant Medicare fraud case announced Thursday involved an Artesia-based hospice facility whose owner filed over $9 million in fraudulent hospice claims to Medicare and received more than $8.5 million in payments, according to prosecutors.
The owner compensated beneficiaries and marketers for referring supposed hospice patients to her business. One couple reported they were each offered $300 monthly to enroll in hospice care despite not requiring it, and they received unnecessary items including nutritional shakes, over-the-counter vitamins and wheelchairs, prosecutors stated.
Another individual charged in a separate hospice fraud case is currently incarcerated in Seattle after being convicted in a previous hospice fraud case in December 2024. Her husband was arrested as a co-defendant Thursday morning.
Authorities also filed charges against a Los Angeles nurse who used a Tarzana hospice center to submit more than $3.8 million in claims, receiving approximately $3.4 million from Medicare. She remains at large.
Court dates have not been scheduled and it was not immediately known whether any of those arrested have obtained legal counsel.
