Federal prosecutors charged 15 people Thursday, including six medical professionals, in Los Angeles-area health care fraud schemes they say billed government and private insurers about $2 billion.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced the charges on Oct. 22. Agents arrested eight people Thursday morning. Fox News and The Daily Wire also reported the takedown.
The main cases
- Sober home scheme: Prosecutors say a Los Angeles father and son, Nathan Young, 39, and David Young, 71, ran dozens of addiction treatment companies that billed private insurers more than $1.6 billion for sham care. The Justice Department calls it the largest case of its kind it has ever brought. Two recruiters from Greenville, Texas, Honey Phipps, 42, and Cody Phipps, 36, are charged with them.
- Artery procedures: Anaheim heart surgeon Dr. Harold Tabaie, 78, and chiropractor Hany Malek, 61, are charged in a $135 million Medicare scheme. Prosecutors say Malek posed as a doctor and Tabaie performed atherectomies, which clear plaque from arteries with a bladed catheter, on patients who did not need them.
- Hospice billing: Three separate cases accuse hospice operators and a doctor of signing up seniors who were not terminally ill. Together those claims topped $138 million, according to the release.
- Medi-Cal pharmacy case: A Whittier woman already charged in June was indicted in a scheme that prosecutors say billed California’s Medicaid program about $269 million for bogus prescriptions.
How patients were treated
Prosecutors say recruiters targeted homeless people and people in addiction support groups across the country. They offered free flights, money, housing and drugs to bring them to Southern California. Some patients lived in crowded, run-down houses. The indictment says staff were told to sedate patients who tried to leave.
Data analysis first flagged the artery case, according to the release. It showed Tabaie as an extreme outlier for the procedure nationwide.
What officials said
“If you steal health care dollars from the American taxpayer or abuse your position to harm patients, we are coming for you,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. FBI Director Kash Patel put the losses at $1.8 billion.
Nicholas Moore, 33, who managed some of the Youngs’ facilities, has pleaded guilty in the sober home case. Charges against the others are allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Federal fraud cases have been in the news all week, including a Massachusetts marriage fraud ring and a SNAP fraud crackdown.
Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California; Fox News; The Daily Wire.
