Huge California Hospice Fraud Bust, $276M Stolen

(KMJ) At least $276 Million in taxpayer money has been stolen in a massive California hospice scam.

Five suspects in the trans-national criminal network have been arrested in Southern California, so far in “Operation Skip Trace.”

“This is a California case, we will prosecute this case,” CA Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a Thursday press conference.

“While this might be President Trump’s shiny new cause, we’ve been going after this type of fraud since 1972” Bonta continued, turning the criminal activity occurring under his agency’s nose into a political slam.

The investigation was kicked off from a tip that identified 14 companies operating on the dark web, that enrolled healthy people into Covered California under the guise of hospice care.

Stolen identities, fake diagnoses, and unaware victims were all part of the scam.

The DOJ says more than 130 shell companies laundered fraudulent billing that exploited the MediCal system.

AG Bonta Announces Results of Major Hospice Fraud Operation – YouTube

$30 Million has been recovered.

Assembly Republican Leader Heath Flora (R-Ripon) called for a special session on fraud across state programs:

“Let’s be honest. This latest announcement from the Attorney General is not proactive. It shows how large this problem became before it was stopped.

I’m calling for a special session on fraud in California’s state programs. Enough of the announcements while California lags behind and lets the federal government take the lead.”

Assemblywoman Alexandra M. Macedo (R-Tulare), released the following statement: “Today’s raid is a hard-won victory for the taxpayers of California and the families we serve. I want to be very clear: these raids are the direct result of our relentless push for accountability. But let’s not mistake a single enforcement action for a mission accomplished. One crackdown is not enough”.

“It is unacceptable that Governor Newsom is playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with criminals when we should be locking the front door. Every day the Governor delays implementing strict regulatory guardrails is another day that taxpayers’ money is diverted from dying patients into the pockets of fraudsters.”

DOJ filed charges against 21 suspects, in three different criminal complaints. The defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, and identity theft. In addition, there is an aggravated white collar crime enhancement and an aggravated money laundering enhancement.

Huge California Hospice Fraud Bust, $276M Stolen

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