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DOJ crackdown announced
The Justice Department announced criminal charges Tuesday against 455 people as part of a two-week healthcare fraud crackdown involving more than $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to insurers.
“criminal charges Tuesday against 455 people”
The crackdown includes a Texas nurse practitioner accused of billing Medicare for medically unnecessary wound-care procedures and using the proceeds for fancy jewelry and luxury cars, and a mental health company owner prosecutors say targeted the homeless by billing for crisis stabilization services they did not receive.
In Florida, prosecutors charged heart doctor Jason Finkelstein, 53, in an $89 million healthcare fraud scheme accused of billing insurers for medically unnecessary cardiovascular screening tests for college student-athletes and then rubber-stamping the results as normal without personally reviewing them.
The indictment says the alleged fraud ran between 2019 and the end of last year, and prosecutors describe it as a yearslong scheme that preyed on athletes’ fears of sudden cardiac arrest.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said at a news conference announcing this year’s crackdown that “Today’s cases allege more than the theft of taxpayer dollars.”
Officials cite patient harm
Prosecutors say Finkelstein’s scheme used deceptive marketing tactics to encourage and offer free heart screens for students who did not need them, then certifying the results as normal without any review.
In one instance in 2024, officials said Finkelstein signed off on approximately 63 test result images of one patient just 11 seconds after accessing them, and the teenage patient later died on the basketball court.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services head Mehmet Oz said, “There is no way they could miss that, except they didn’t care,” describing the case as a predatory scheme dressed up in medical care.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department’s efforts have resulted in the seizure of more than $180 million in cash and other assets, and he said, “We’re taking back the money, the luxury cars, the jewelry and these alleged fraudsters will face justice.”
Scope across states
The Justice Department said that in the last 14 days, 455 defendants have been charged across 45 states for fraud schemes involving more than $6.5 billion, as part of what it calls the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown.
“across 45 states for fraud schemes involving more than $6.5 billion”
FBI Director Kash Patel said Ibrahim Khaldoon Hilmi was arrested after perpetrating a multi-billion dollar fraud in Turkey, apprehended and transferred back to the United States of America, where he will face prosecution.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. said his agency will be using advanced artificial intelligence and data analytics to better flag suspicious claims, adding that the goal is to replace a system that pays claims first and chases fraud later with a system to stop improper payments before they’re made.
The Justice Department said the crackdown announcement covers cases that were either charged or unsealed since June 8, and it framed the enforcement as protecting taxpayer dollars and patient welfare.
McDonald said, “if you put profit over patients, you should expect to be put in prison,” as the department highlighted schemes ranging from medically unnecessary tests to predatory billing tactics against vulnerable populations.
