Two Lee County residents are among nearly 50 Florida residents who face criminal charges in a massive national crackdown on health care fraud, according to authorities.
The U.S. Justice Department described the string of cases involving 324 defendants nationwide and involving $14.6 billion in false claims as the “largest coordinated health care fraud takedown” in the agency’s history.
“This enforcement action involves the seizure of cash, as well as luxury vehicles and properties, returning real money to American taxpayers and to our government health care programs,” Matthew Galeotti, head of the department’s criminal division, said Monday.
Galeotti added that the U.S. is seeing a “disturbing trend” of transnational criminal organizations engaging in increasingly sophisticated and complex criminal schemes that defraud the American health care system.
In addition, 74 defendants that include medical professionals helped fuel the opioid epidemic for their own gain, according to the federal agency.
Many of the 324 defendants targeted vulnerable residents who are in nursing homes, or who have disabilities or are battling serious illnesses,...
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