The Justice Department on Monday announced charges for 324 people, including nearly 100 medical professionals, in what the DOJ called the largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history.
The $14.6 billion crackdown spanned all 50 states and included charges ranging from opioid trafficking and telemedicine fraud to transnational identity theft schemes. Of the total charged, 77 defendants were prosecuted by state attorneys general, while the remaining 247 face federal charges. Authorities said they seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the takedown “delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers.”
The healthcare fraud bust under President Donald Trump and his appointees marks a major step above efforts by the Justice Department under the Biden administration, which uncovered $2.75 billion in false claims last year, resulting in 193 defendants charged.
The announcement came as Senate Republicans advanced the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping tax and spending package that proposes major changes to Medicaid reimbursements. All GOP senators except Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) voted to move the bill forward. Tillis, who announced Sunday he would not seek reelection, warned the legislation would make “devastating” changes to Medicaid.
As Washington fights over how to reform Medicaid, the DOJ’s bust hinted at the scale of criminal abuse of the healthcare system.
“These criminals didn’t just steal someone else’s money — they stole from you,” said Matthew Galeotti, head of the DOJ’s Criminal Division. “This is not healthcare. It is a staggering breach of trust.”
Among the major alleged schemes was a transnational criminal ring accused of submitting $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims using the stolen identities of over 1 million U.S. residents.
In Arizona, a United Arab Emirates-based billing company allegedly defrauded Medicaid of $650 million, targeting Native American and homeless patients for addiction treatment scams.
State attorneys general also played a significant role. In Indiana, Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, announced charges in 13 cases, including hospice workers and nurses accused of stealing drugs from dying patients. “We have zero tolerance for those who abuse this lifeline for Hoosiers,” Rokita said.
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said a new “fraud war room” would deploy artificial intelligence tools and prepayment reviews to detect fraud before money is released.
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“We’re stopping stolen taxpayer money from leaving the door,” Oz said.
Officials said that the department’s goal going forward is to be proactive, not reactive, in an effort to stymie perpetrators’ attempts to steal taxpayer-funded healthcare dollars before they’re in the hands of criminals.
