The Justice Department announced the results of the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, charging 455 defendants, including 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals, in schemes involving more than $6.5 billion in fraudulent claims.
The operation spanned 56 federal districts across 45 states and territories and involved all 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units, the largest coordinated effort of its kind in department history.
Speaking at a June 23 press conference in Washington, D.C., Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the operation unprecedented.
“This announcement marks the greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history,” Blanche said. “This is just the beginning. Fraudsters can no longer rip off American taxpayers.”
FBI Director Kash Patel, appearing alongside Blanche and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., described the takedown as “historic.”
Patel said the FBI and its partners arrested and charged more than 450 people, including nearly 100 medical professionals, in alleged fraud schemes exceeding $6 billion.
“Every arrest is a continued message to criminal actors who rob American taxpayers that you will not get away with your crimes,” Patel said.
Kennedy echoed the warning.
“Today’s historic enforcement action sends a clear message: if you use our health care system to enrich yourself at the expense of patients or the American people, we will find you, we will prosecute you. We will hold you accountable,” he said.
Southern California at the Center
Federal prosecutors in the Central District of California charged 10 defendants accused of defrauding government health care programs or illegally prescribing controlled substances.
Among them was a Whittier woman accused of helping submit nearly $270 million in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims for expensive prescription drugs and a San Fernando Valley man charged with operating hospice companies that allegedly fraudulently billed Medicare $27 million.
The key defendant
Christina Mareik, 61, also known as Christina Marie Sanchez Hernandez, was arrested June 17 on a health care fraud charge.
Prosecutors allege that over an 11-month period, nearly $270 million in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims were submitted for expensive prescription drugs containing low-cost generic ingredients that were either medically unnecessary or never provided.
Mareik, who appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on June 17, was released on $100,000 bond. Her arraignment is scheduled for July 23.
The broader network behind the scheme
According to prosecutors, Mareik worked with Paul Richard Randall, a patient marketer for Monte VP LLC, which operated as Monte Vista Pharmacy, along with pharmacy owner Kyrollos Mekail and Patricia Anderson.
Investigators allege the group exploited Medi-Cal’s temporary suspension of prior authorization requirements for certain prescriptions.
Between May 2022 and April 2023, nearly $270 million in claims were submitted for 19 expensive, non-contracted drugs, resulting in more than $178 million in Medi-Cal payments.
Authorities allege Mareik facilitated fraudulent prescriptions and later attempted to conceal the scheme by providing hundreds of fabricated progress notes after state auditors began reviewing the pharmacy.
Patients reportedly complained about receiving medications they neither requested nor needed. Prosecutors allege Mareik handled those complaints to prevent law enforcement involvement.
Mareik allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the scheme and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Randall pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud committed while on release and faces up to 30 years in prison. Authorities have also seized luxury items, rare baseball cards and homes allegedly purchased with fraud proceeds.
Four ghost hospice companies
Another major case centers on Oren David Shachar, 59, of Van Nuys.
Federal prosecutors allege that from 2021 through 2026, Shachar and marketers Abraham Shin and Jeannie Choi submitted false hospice claims for patients who were either not terminally ill or were already deceased.
Shachar allegedly operated four hospice companies — Gentle Touch Hospice Care, Oxford Hospice Care, Art of Hospice and Holly Trinity Hospice — to carry out the scheme.
Investigators say Shachar paid illegal kickbacks to marketers and beneficiaries, while Shin and Choi allegedly sold personal information belonging to living and deceased patients to support the fraud.
The three defendants face a 16-count indictment that includes healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering-related charges and Anti-Kickback Statute violations.
The case comes as federal authorities intensify scrutiny of hospice fraud in California. In a related matter cited by the DOJ, another hospice owner allegedly paid funeral home employees for personal information belonging to recently deceased Medicare beneficiaries.
Record Medicaid enforcement marks new milestone
The takedown included a record 295 defendants charged in Medicaid-related schemes involving more than $518 million in false claims.
Federal officials also reported roughly 1,000 Medicaid payment suspensions during the first half of 2026, including 800 in California alone, a 500 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
“We are closing loopholes that fraudsters have avoided and been exploiting for years. Those days are over,” Blanche said.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services suspended 1,079 providers, revoked billing privileges for 1,403 others and initiated actions aimed at returning more than $10 billion in flagged or suspended payments to the Medicare Trust Fund.
Wound allograft schemes
Authorities also charged 11 defendants across six federal districts in connection with billions of dollars in fraudulent claims involving amniotic wound allografts.
Among those charged was Brian Rowan, 47, of Las Vegas, a former allograft company executive accused of orchestrating hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks, bribes and rebates to induce purchases.
Prosecutors allege Rowan concealed the payments through sham invoices and directed providers to inflate Medicare reimbursement claims.
Authorities said Rowan received more than $24 million, which he allegedly used to purchase luxury homes, life insurance policies, high-end vehicles and luxury watches.
In Texas, a nurse practitioner was charged in a separate $906 million scheme involving medically unnecessary allografts. Prosecutors allege she billed Medicare more than $1 million per patient on average.
Assets seized in allograft investigations include an $865,000 Bulgari necklace and funds allegedly used to build a beach resort in the Philippines.
CMS slashes allograft payments to protect Medicare beneficiaries
CMS officials said agency data analysts detected an unusual spike in allograft payments, triggering investigations and prosecutions.
The agency subsequently reduced Medicare reimbursement rates for allografts to $127 per square centimeter beginning January 1, 2026.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the new strategy focuses on stopping fraud before taxpayer money is paid.
“Prosecuting criminals who steal from American patients is necessary — but stopping them before a single dollar leaves the building is smarter,” Oz said. “CMS is done playing catch-up. We’re deploying advanced data analytics to expose fraud networks, freeze suspicious payments and shut down bad actors before they can do damage to the programs that millions of Americans depend on.”
Federal officials said allograft billings, which totaled $14.4 billion in 2025, have fallen to roughly $100 million since the start of 2026 following the prosecutions and reimbursement changes.
