LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Attorney’s Office in California on Thursday announced the arrest of eight individuals accused of health care fraud — including owners of hospices that, according to the federal government, billed taxpayers millions of dollars to serve the “dying.”
The eight defendants include three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist. They are being accused of defrauding the nation’s health care system out of more than $50 million — including by running “sham hospice care facilities that bilked Medicare by using people without terminal illnesses as beneficiaries.”
According to the Justice Department, six of the defendants are expected to make their initial appearance Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Another defendant is expected to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Idaho.
“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for…
This involves defrauding the state or using government systems to steal from individuals.
- Tax Identity Theft: A criminal uses your ID and income details to file a tax return in your name and claim a refund before you do.
- Grant/Benefit Fraud: Falsely claiming unemployment, disability, or social grants that the perpetrator is not entitled to.