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Law enforcement seized more than $245 million in cash, luxury
vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets as prosecutors warned
of a growing push by transnational criminal networks to exploit
the U.S. health care system. As part of the sweeping crackdown,
officials identified perpetrators based in Russia, Eastern
Europe, Pakistan, and other countries.
“These criminals didn’t just steal someone else’s money. They
stole from you," Matthew Galeotti, who leads the Justice
Department’s criminal division, told reporters Monday. “Every
fraudulent claim, every fake billing, every kickback scheme
represents money taken directly from the pockets of American
taxpayers who fund these essential programs through their hard
work and sacrifice."
The alleged $14.6 billion in fraud is more than twice the
previous record in the Justice Department’s annual health care
fraud crackdown. It includes nearly 190 federal cases and more
than 90 state cases that have been charged or unsealed since
June 9. Nearly 100 licensed medical professionals were charged,
including 25 doctors, and the government reported $2.9 billion
in actual losses.
Among the cases is a $10 billion urinary catheter scheme that
authorities say highlights the increasingly sophisticated
methods used by transnational criminal organizations.
Authorities say the group behind the scheme used foreign straw
owners to secretly buy up dozens of medical supply companies and
then used stolen identities and confidential health data to file
fake Medicare claims.
Nineteen defendants have been charged as part of that
investigation — which authorities dubbed Operation Gold Rush —
including four people arrested in Estonia and seven people
arrested at U.S. airports and at the border with Mexico,
prosecutors said. The scheme involved the stolen identities and
personal information of more one million Americans, according to
the Justice Department.
“It's not done by small time operators," said Dr. Mehmet Oz, who
leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “These are
organized syndicates who are designing to hurt America.”
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