WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Tuesday that the feds have charged hundreds of defendants in recent weeks for seeking to bilk taxpayer-funded programs out of $6.5 billion.
“This announcement marks the greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history,” Blanche told reporters at the Department of Justice’s headquarters in DC.
“These individuals participated in health care fraud schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs.”
One recent case involved an Arizona-based corporate executive who purportedly took $2 billion in taxpayer funds after billing the feds for fake claims to pay for amniotic wound allografts, charging more than $1 million per patient, Blanche noted.
The executive and 10 other defendants — eight of whom are medical professionals — took the funds to pay for lux lifestyles — including a $135,000 Maserati, an $865,000 Bulgari necklace, multimillion-dollar homes and the construction of a $4.6 million resort in the Philippines.
“We’re taking back the money, the luxury cars, the jewelry and these alleged fraudsters will face justice,” Blanche said.
The scheme, which ran from December 2021 to June 2024, involved billing Medicare for more than $4 billion worth of the Arizona company’s allografts.
Just $2 billion was paid out.
But the company never made allografts, according to the DOJ. Instead, the alleged fraudsters purchased them...
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