June 30 (UPI) — The U.S. government said Monday hundreds of medical professionals throughout the nation will face federal charges for alleged roles in various healthcare schemes that resulted in financial losses to the tune of billions.
Federal officials claimed this year’s so-called “National Health Care Fraud Takedown” was DOJ’s largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history.
“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 U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
According to the department, 324 defendants will see charges in 50 federal judicial districts by 12 state attorneys general in California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
The charges included some 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other licensed medical professionals for alleged health care-related crimes that saw more than $14.6 billion in intended fraudulent losses.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi (pictured Friday at the White House in Washington, D.C.) said Monday, “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.” Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
In addition, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday it managed to stop fraudulent payouts totaling over $4 billion, and suspended or revoked billing privileges to about 205 service providers in the last few months. It arrived with news the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration charged in the last six months 93 cases in administrative court seeking an end to the ability of certain pharmacies, medical practitioners and other companies to doll out a controlled drug.
The coordinated federal effort led by the criminal division of DOJ’s health care fraud unit — along with other enforcement partners such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DEA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — took over $245 million in reported cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency and other seized assets.
A pharmacy counter at a local pharmacy in Washington, DC. (UPI/Billie Jean Shaw)
On Monday, FBI Director Kash Patel said with more than $13 billion in fraud uncovered, the sting was the “largest takedown for this initiative to date.”
It came with civil charges for 20 defendants for alleged fraud of $14.2 billion, civil settlements totaling more than $34 million against 106 other unnamed defendants, and charges for 74 others, which included 44 medical professionals in 58 cases of alleged diversion of more than 15 million prescription opioid pills and other controlled substances such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol.
“Health care fraud isn’t just theft — it’s trafficking in trust,” acting DEA Administrator Robert Murphy said in a statement.
The Justice Department added that 29 others were charged for transnational crimes after $12 billion in alleged fraudulent claims were filed with American health insurance companies in legal charges against 19 people in New York, Illinois, California, Florida and New Jersey.
It included four Estonian defendants, attempts to flee U.S. authorities and a billing company owner based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates who allegedly conspired with treatment center owners to fraudulently bill Arizona’s medicaid program roughly $650 million.
Murphy said Monday’s announcement showed that the DEA will act “when doctors become drug dealers and treatment centers become profit-driven fraud rings.”
It arrived nearly a year to date after the Biden Justice Department announced a similar crackdown that saw 193 arrested, over $2 billion in losses and $231 million in seized cash in a conspiracy to distribute misbranded HIV drugs.
