Federal agents and prosecutors under the Trump administration struck another massive blow against California’s runaway healthcare fraud industry Thursday, charging 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, in schemes that collectively submitted over $1.8 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare, private insurers, and other programs.
The Justice Department’s announcement, led by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald, targeted what prosecutors described as the largest substance abuse treatment fraud scheme the department has ever prosecuted, along with unnecessary invasive artery procedures that injured patients and multiple hospice fraud operations where beneficiaries were not terminally ill, New York Post reported.
Eight defendants were arrested, with others charged and expected in court.
The cases include a father-son operation and Texas recruiters accused of trafficking vulnerable people, including the homeless and those in recovery programs, to Southern California for sham treatment, according to the DOJ.
Nathan Young, 39, and his father David Young, 71, both of Los Angeles, along with Honey Phipps, 42, and Cody Phipps, 36, of Greenville, Texas, face charges in a years-long scheme that billed private insurers more than $1.6 billion.
Prosecutors allege they controlled dozens of purported treatment facilities and used “body brokers” to lure addicts and unhoused individuals with free flights, apartments, cash, drugs, and other inducements.
