The Justice Department today announced the Minnesota Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against 15 defendants, including owners of child care centers and various Medicaid providers, for their alleged participation in various fraud schemes involving over $90 million in intended loss, including the two largest Medicaid fraud cases ever charged in the District and first-of-their kind charges involving additional Medicaid programs. The Justice Department also announced a major investment in combatting Medicaid fraud through a significant expansion of the Division’s Health Care Fraud Section, allocating funding to permit the hiring of 15 new Trial Attorney positions to combat Medicaid fraud across the United States.
“Today, we are holding scammers accountable who ripped off the American taxpayer and harmed those deserving legitimate assistance from these programs,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “These alleged con artists stole taxpayer dollars while providing substandard care for children and abandoning at least one Medicaid recipient as they passed away. The DOJ Fraud Division, along with the White House’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, will dismantle illegal schemes from coast-to-coast, just as they did today in Minnesota. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Driven by data showing a significant increase in Medicaid fraud across the country, the 15 additional prosecutors will serve as a force multiplier for our existing Strike Forces to combat this critical new threat,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s Fraud Division. “The Fraud Division is committed to supercharging the Health Care Fraud Strike Force program with the resources it needs to tackle the pervasive fraud in the health care industry and protect the vulnerable beneficiaries of these programs, including children and those suffering from chronic ailments.”
“Today’s arrests mark the largest autism fraud bust in American history,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Under the leadership of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, this Administration is carrying out the most aggressive anti-fraud effort in modern American history. These criminals exploited vulnerable children, stole taxpayer dollars, and diverted critical autism care and resources away from families who truly need support, and we will continue rooting out fraud to protect children and restore integrity to America’s public health programs.”
“As alleged, the defendants in this case not only attempted to steal public healthcare funds paid for by hardworking American taxpayers – but stole critical resources from families who truly needed them,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “This FBI and our interagency partners have a mandate to investigate and systematically dismantle this exact kind of public fraud in America, which grossly abuses and mismanages money from working Americans, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Today’s indictment is a massive moment in this effort and we’re not slowing down.”
Full Press Release
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