Tag: fraud

Nick Shirley Explains Exactly How the California Hospice Fraud Scheme Works

Independent journalist Nick Shirley has helped expose massive fraud in Minnesota, and now he’s set his sights on California, where the fraud is far worse.

Governor Gavin Newsom attacked him for his work, of course, because Newsom has aided and abetted the fraud. But Shirley isn’t alone. Dr. Oz, CBS, and Fox News have all shone a spotlight on the fraud, too. It’s likely to make Minnesota’s fraud look like pocket change.

Shirley also explained how the fraud works, and how the scammers are getting away with millions.

Shirley points out that one hospice, All Day Hospice Care, has billed for $3.1 million, or about $6,000 per patient, since 2023. It rented a small suite inside of an unmarked office building, where they close up shop when questions about their business arise.

Newsom was warned in 2022 about the fraud.

He ignored it. Or, more accurately, he paused hospice licensing, but didn’t address the 1,500 percent increase in agencies.

Keep reading

New Orleans ‘Anti-Police’ Defense Attorney Indicted for Wire Fraud

An ‘anti-police’ New Orleans defense attorney was indicted for wire fraud on Friday.

Tanzanika Ruffin allegedly stole $250,000 from a client and used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle.

This is not the first time that Ruffin has been accused of criminal conduct.

She was fired from as an assistant district attorney in 2004 for extortion allegations.

“Ruffin was fired from the DA’s office more than 20 years ago for extortion allegations. The DA’s office later dismissed the allegations, and the Bar suspended her license for a short period,” WDSU reported.

Per the Justice Department:

On Friday, March 13, 2026, a Federal Grand Jury indicted TANZANIKA RUFFIN (“RUFFIN”), age 48, for wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.

According to the indictment, RUFFIN defrauded approximately $250,000 from her clients’ family. RUFFIN made numerous misrepresentations to the family regarding the $250,000.

RUFFIN falsely told her client and his family that they had to compensate a New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”) officer for various fictitious injuries and harms that the officer had allegedly suffered.

RUFFIN also falsely represented that she had confected a “Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement” (“NDA”) with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office and the NOPD officer.

According to RUFFIN, this fabricated NDA required her client’s family to keep confidential any discussions about a financial settlement.

In truth and in fact, no such NDA existed. Instead, RUFFIN spent all the money on personal and unauthorized expenditures and did not give any funds to the NOPD officer.

If convicted, RUFFIN faces a maximum penalty of twenty (20) years of imprisonment, up to three (3) years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, and payment of a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.

Keep reading

Investigative Journalist Nick Shirley Releases Video Uncovering $170 Million in Fraud in California

Investigative journalist Nick Shirley released his latest video on Monday, uncovering $170 million in fraud in California.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg in Democrat-run California.

“We uncovered over $170,000,000 in fraud as these fraudsters live in luxury with no consequences,” Nick Shirley said.

“California’s version of Medicaid called ‘Medi-Cal’ has more than doubled since 2022 from $108 billion to a proposed $222 billion in 2026. Their population, however, has not grown exponentially. However, their spending has,” Nick Shirley said.

“There has been a 1,000 percent increase in hospice care in Los Angeles County,” Nick Shirley said. It’s estimated that the fraud in California could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Nick Shirley visited ‘hospices’ in Los Angeles and ‘daycares’ in San Diego.

The Somali ‘daycare’ owner/operator screamed at Nick Shirley and called the police after he asked her why there weren’t any children in the facility.

Keep reading

FBI Arrests 10 Indians for Allegedly Staging Armed Robberies in Visa Fraud Scheme

Nearly a dozen Indian nationals face charges after they were accused of taking part in a visa fraud scheme that included fake robberies.

The convenience store robberies were staged so that clerks could falsely claim on immigration applications that they were crime victims, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Six defendants live in Massachusetts, two live in Ohio, one lives in Mississippi, and one lives in Kentucky. Another who lived in Massachusetts has already been deported.

All were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud:

The release said that the fake robberies began in 2023.

The alleged purpose of the staged robberies “was to allow the clerks present to claim falsely that they were victims of a violent crime on an application for U non-immigration status (U Visa),” the release said.

“A U Visa is available to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who have been helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” the release added.

The fake robber would allegedly threaten a clerk with what appeared to be a gun before taking cash from a register and fleeing — with store video recording the entire staged incident.

After five minutes, the supposed victims would call police.

The release said that those charged participated in the scheme by working with the scheme’s organizer or paying for a fake robbery to take place.

In August, Rambhai Patel, 38, was sentenced to 20 months and eight days in prison, followed by two years of supervised release and eventual deportation for his role in the scheme, according to a Department of Justice news release.

The release said Patel was paid by the clerks so that he could participate in the scheme.

Patel was alleged to be the fake robber.

Keep reading

Husband behind $14M COVID loan scam bought mansion for another wife he had in the Middle East

An Illinois tax preparer who helped run a “staggering” $14 million COVID scam used the money to build a mansion for a wife and kids he had in the Palestinian territories — infuriating his other wife in Illinois.

Sharhabeel Shreiteh, 46, received around $740,000 in kickbacks as he helped more than 1,000 people get phony Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in what he admitted to one sidekick was likely the “most stupid fraud in history.”

Shreiteh used his own ill-gotten gains to build a home and a luxury Mercedes car for his wife and their three kids in Palestine — sending his American-based wife of nearly 18 years into a jealous rage, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“You suck!” Hania Atiq Shreiteh, his 52-year-old wife in America, texted him in July 2021 about the money he was sending to his family in his native Palestine.

“I bust my a– for 13 years and don’t have like she gets without working for it!!!” she wrote, according to messages in court filings.

“You gave her kids, a villa, now fancy cars??!! … I’m so sick and tired of being lied to by you.”

Shreiteh and Hania were married in 2008 and have a daughter in suburban Chicago. It was not clear when he married the other woman in Palestine, with whom he has three children and talked to every day, nor if they are still married.

However, Hania’s anger appeared to have subsided by the time the taxpayer pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday.

“Having a second family aligns with his religious beliefs and was approved by his wife,” a court memo seeking a lighter sentence claimed. “He hopes that once the situation in the Middle East stabilizes, his other family can visit him here.”

Keep reading

We visited “ground zero” for hospice fraud: Los Angeles, California

At age 69, Lynn Ianni is a pickleball whiz, zipping from dinks to drives energetically. When she suffered an injury on the court two years ago, she sought physical therapy, and was surprised to learn her Medicare insurance wouldn’t cover it.

She was, according to Medicare records, dying and in hospice.

“They said, ‘you’re in hospice.’ And I said, ‘what? What are you talking about?” Ianni said. “‘Are you kidding me? Do I look like I’m in hospice?’”

Ianni’s Medicare number had been stolen, and used by a company to fraudulently enroll her in hospice – specialized, compassionate care for terminal patients nearing the end of their lives. It was another example of fraud in the hospice industry, long a nationwide problem. But her case arose well after officials had promised to stamp it out in California, where the problem has been especially acute.

Medicare is federally administered, and hospices must be certified for reimbursements. But the state issues the licenses for hospices to operate.

Three years ago, California’s state auditor sounded the alarm that Los Angeles County had seen a 1,500% increase in hospice companies since 2010 – more than six times the national average relative to its elderly population.

Keep reading

Appallingly shoddy Vietnam War memorial to be torn down after $1million was spent on building it

A $1million memorial dedicated to Vietnam War veterans is set to be torn down just a year after a fraud scandal plagued the community behind the project.

California officials announced the memorial in 2023 as a way to honor Vietnamese soldiers allied with the US during the war. 

The construction began in the upscale Orange County neighborhood, which is also home to the largest Vietnamese population in the US. 

Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do spearheaded the project, allocating $1 million in taxpayer funds to the Viet America Society nonprofit. 

It was later revealed that Do was funneling money through the organization for his personal gain, and the disgraced politician was sentenced to five years in prison on conspiracy charges as a result.

Do’s fall from grace left the Vietnam War memorial in shambles, with new leadership appalled by the shoddy construction. 

A county report obtained by the Los Angeles Times found that repairing the unfinished monument would cost between $168,000 and $420,000, with an additional $40,000 to finish engraving the names of fallen soldiers. 

Since demolition would only cost a fraction of that estimate, county officials opted to start the project from scratch. 

Crews arrived at Mile Square Regional Park this week to tear down what remained of Do’s tarnished legacy. 

His successor and former political rival, Janet Nguyen, called the monument a ‘disgrace’ in a statement to the Daily Mail. 

‘The county decided to tear down the wall because we can do better. This memorial is a disgrace to veterans and not the respect they deserve. We have been looking for alternative options, including a space at the new veteran’s cemetery,’ she added. 

Nguyen told California news outlet, KTLA, in November that it was ‘heartbreaking’ to see how veterans were honored.  

The new county supervisor added that the monument was not even accessible to those with disabilities. 

Veterans from Vietnam are now elderly, but the monument was designed in a part of the park without a wheelchair-accessible path. 

‘What was the point?’ Nguyen questioned at a press conference in November. 

‘They … put up these cheap materials that are getting worn down already within not even a year, just so they could launder the rest of the money themselves.’ 

Keep reading

HHS finds Minnesota child care agency failed to verify attendance records and ‘pursue fraud tips’

The US Department of Health and Human Services found Minnesota’s child care agency failed to adequately verify attendance records or “pursue fraud tips” following an oversight visit in late January, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

HHS’ Administration for Children and Families informed Minnesota officials that its handling of the distribution of federal taxpayer dollars for child care in the state had “not established adequate controls to verify the accuracy of county-issued provider payments based on attendance of children.”

As a result, child care centers could get funding from counties — and counties could then bill the state and the federal government by extension — “without reconciling billed hours against attendance records, even periodically.”

Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families also had “[l]imited staff and resources … to adequately pursue fraud tips and conduct proactive investigations,” Laurie Todd-Smith, HHS ACF deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development, wrote in the letter.

Just four investigators are working for Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program to address all potential fraud.

Additionally, Todd-Smith said, “Minnesota did not demonstrate that they are currently implementing required program integrity training for providers across the state,” meaning all child care center operators have to do is affirm they’ve read requirements to receive funding.

Keep reading

RFK Jr. Blows the Whistle on $400M Autism Fraud Scheme in Minnesota

Acting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience for the first time since taking his new role, and he did not shy away from detailing the fraud he says he uncovered after finally stepping into a position of power.

With Medicaid and Medicare alone, Kennedy said, “We lose just on Medicaid and Medicare, $100 billion a year. And it’s all just this, really, ya know, shocking, blatant fraud.”

As HHS Secretary, Kennedy described an industrialized scheme operating out of Florida, where P.O. boxes were set up for companies claiming to sell durable medical equipment like knee braces and wheelchairs.

But there’s one small problem: “They don’t have any knee braces or wheelchairs.”

However, they do have patient identification numbers.

Those ID numbers are used to bill the government for equipment that never ships. Kennedy said many of these schemes are operating out of countries like Cuba or Russia.

He then pointed to another staggering example: Los Angeles has more hospice care providers than the entire rest of the country COMBINED.

How is that possible? That’s because “it’s all fraudulent,” Kennedy said.

Keep reading

JD Vance, Dr. Oz make dramatic move withholding $259.5M Minnesota Medicaid funds in first battle in the ‘war on fraud’

Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that $259.5 million in Medicaid funds for Minnesota won’t be reimbursed due to fraud concerns — giving Democratic Gov. Tim Walz 60 days to submit a “corrective action plan” or face further withholdings.

Vance was joined by Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to make the announcement, which was first reported by The Post — one day after President Trump announced a Vance-led “war on fraud” in his State of the Union address.

The men also announced a national pause on firms that can seek subsidies through Medicare for durable medical equipment like canes and walkers.

“We are going to start very aggressively in the administration cracking down on the people and the organizations that are defrauding Americans,” Vance pledged after being delegated the role by Trump.

Oz said “Gov. [Tim] Walz has 60 days — 60 days, sir — to respond to our letter” if he wants repayment, which Oz said will require the state to “propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem.”

Keep reading