Hundreds were charged Monday in connection with $14.6 billion worth of health care fraud schemes that included supplying millions of opioid pills to drug dealers and giving elderly patients on hospice care \u201cunnecessary\u201d wound grafts, the Department of Justice announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The operation, which the department called the largest health care fraud takedown in its history, collared 324 defendants, including members of transnational criminal groups and American doctors and pharmacists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sick schemes caused an actual loss to the federal coffers of about $2.9 billion, officials said, with the feds also seizing as much as $245 million \u201cin cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets\u201d in the sweeping crackdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMake no mistake \u2014 this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities,\u201d Attorney General Pam Bondi added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DOJ Criminal Division head Matthew Galeotti said some of the ill-gotten gains came at the cost of exacerbating the nation\u2019s opioid epidemic and harming those fighting against drug addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One scheme involved the trafficking of more than 15 million prescription opioid pills \u2014 including oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol \u2014 from pharmacists to street drug dealers to users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHealth care fraud isn\u2019t just theft \u2014 it\u2019s trafficking in trust. Today\u2019s announcement shows that when doctors become drug dealers and treatment centers become profit-driven fraud rings, [the Drug Enforcement Administration] will act,\u201d said Acting DEA Administrator Robert Murphy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the opioid busts occurred in Texas, where some of the defendants were accused of operating more than a dozen \u201cfront\u201d pharmacies to move the prescription drugs onto Houston\u2019s streets or other black markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one case, a doctor and nurse opened a \u201cpill mill\u201d disguised as a clinic to sell oxycodone and hydrocodone prescriptions to drug dealers for cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Maryam \u201cMeg\u201d Qayum \u2014 who authorities say had the prescriptions filled at \u201ccomplicit\u201d pharmacies \u2014 ended up writing scripts for more than 3 million pills between May 2022 and June 2025, including a risky combination of hydrocodone and carisoprodol known as a \u201cLas Vegas Cocktail,\u201d prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another scheme involved Arizona-based defendants conspiring to take $1 billion from Medicare recipients by pressuring them to undergo amniotic wound allografts, in some cases when the procedure was \u201cunnecessary\u201d since the patients were in hospice and just days or weeks from death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[M]edically untrained sales representatives\u201d pushed for the skin grafts whenever they spotted \u201csuperficial wounds\u201d on terminally ill senior patients in Arizona, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arizona co-defendants Tyler Kontos, 29, Joel Kupetz, 36, and Jorge Kinds, 49, were all charged with submitting $1 billion in fraudulent claims \u2014 of which $600 million was paid before the feds pulled the plug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Post that the crackdown appeared to be politically motivated, as President Trump has asked Republicans to root out \u201cwaste, fraud and abuse\u201d in Medicaid through his \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d working its way through Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the bogus medical claims \u2014 worth around $10.6 billion \u2014 were submitted to Medicare by transnational crime organizations who bought up dozens of medical supply firms with the help of straw owners based overseas and needlessly purchased urinary catheters and other medical equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proceeds were then laundered through cryptocurrency exchanges, foreign shell companies and banks based in Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, China and Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plot also involved the theft of more than 1 million Americans\u2019 identities nationwide to submit the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 12 culprits were arrested for participating in the scheme, dubbed \u201cOperation Gold Rush\u201d by the DOJ, four of whom were apprehended in Estonia and seven of whom were taken at US ports of entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less than $42 million in fraudulent claims were paid out before the scheme was halted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, a Pakistan-United Arab Emirates national owned a billing company, ProMD, that tried to charge Medicaid treatment center owners in Arizona roughly $650 million for alcohol and drug abuse services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The treatments were often low-quality or not provided at all \u2014 and center owners allegedly paid kickbacks for patients \u201crecruited from the homeless population and Native American reservations,\u201d DOJ officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The owner of the billing company, Farrukh Jarar Ali, 41, nabbed at least $24.5 million and used the money to buy a $2.9 million home at a golf club in Dubai before the feds charged him with wire fraud and money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Genetic testing and telemedicine fraud also bilked taxpayers contributing to Medicare programs by more than $1.1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scores of other defendants bilked Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers in schemes amounting to $1.84 billion in false claims for medical testing, treatments and visits that involved alleged kickbacks and bribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese criminals didn\u2019t just steal someone else\u2019s money. They stole from you,\u201d Galeotti told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n