On May 13, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that charges had been filed against 90 individuals, including 27 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, for engaging in schemes to defraud Medicare. The charged individuals are alleged to have collectively defrauded Medicare of nearly $260 million.
The takedown, led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, spanned six cities nationwide and marks the seventh coordinated national Medicare fraud takedown by the Strike Force since its creation in 2009. The Strike Force is comprised of a multi-agency team of federal, state and local investigators who detect Medicare fraud largely through the use of data analysis. Nearly 400 law enforcement agents from the FBI, HHS-OIG and other federal, state and local agencies participated in the raids.
The defendants are charged with a variety of fraudulent schemes, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and violations of the anti-kickback statutes.
This most recent batch of indictments demonstrates forcefully the ongoing commitment by DOJ and HHS to aggressively investigate, prevent and prosecute health care fraud. As stated by Attorney General Holder, “Department of Justice will not tolerate these activities. And we will continue working alongside the Department of Health and Human Services – as well as federal, state, and local partners – to use every appropriate tool and available resource to find, stop, and punish those who seek to take advantage of their fellow citizens.”
Additional information and resources regarding the charges, including copies of unsealed indictments, are available on the DOJ website at Justice.gov.