Authorities arrested eight people accused of conducting a series of health care fraud schemes that bilked tens of millions of dollars from Medicare and other insurance companies across Southern California, prosecutors announced April 2.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the eight defendants, including three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist, were charged in separate cases with defrauding the health care system out of more than $50 million. The arrests were carried out in coordination with a federal task force that was established as part of President Donald Trump's "war on fraud," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants were involved with various schemes to exploit union health benefits and hospice care programs through fraudulent claims and illegal kickbacks. Five of the cases involved hospice care facilities in several cities across Los Angeles County that submitted false claims to Medicare for patients who were not terminally ill and were not eligible for services, prosecutors said.

One person in Idaho and another in the Los Angeles area were arrested for allegedly defrauding a labor union's health plans for purported chiropractic services, according to prosecutors. Another person in the Los Angeles area was accused of posing as a nurse and creating fraudulent immigration documents.

During a news conference, Essayli, appointed by Trump, accused California of not vetting when issuing hospice licenses and...

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