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The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the cleaning charges to more than 300 defendants on Monday, claiming that patients had mistakenly paid for medical care that they didn’t need, and sometimes received.
Similarly, Matthew Galeotti, chief of DOJ Criminal Division, said the defendants also tried to scam Medicare and other taxpayer-funded private health insurance programs out of about $14.6 billion.
The announcement marked “the largest coordinated healthcare fraud in the Department of Justice’s history has been abolished,” Galeotti said at a press conference.
One charge, including indictment against three defendants in Arizona, for example, allegedly conspiring to purchase and provide skin grafts to an elderly Medicare recipient known as an “amniotic fluid wound allograft.” The defendant is said to have reaped millions of dollars from the practice.
5.4 million patients exposed in healthcare data breaches
Matthew Galeotti, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Director, joins the administrator of Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to speak at a press conference in Washington, DC on June 30, 2025 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
One of the accused nurse, who applied the graft to the patient despite being “medically unreasonable and unnecessary,” the indictment said. The nurses are said to have applied them to terminally ill patients at Hospice, including days when they were away from death.
While that particular medical practice is usually non-invasive, Galeotti noted that it was part of a billion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme that stripped patients of “dignity and peace” on the last day.
“The act is so calm and intrusive that it can be heard,” Galeotti said. “Patients and their families trusted these healthcare providers in their lives. Instead of receiving care, they became victims of elaborate criminal planning.”
A DOJ official responded to a question from Fox News Digital, saying that skingraft is a “emerging territory” of healthcare scams.
Healthcare fraud cases were all shared online to the public, and spanned the country and the world. The defendants included owners and medical professionals of a medical supplies company, including 25 doctors.
A Texas doctor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for one of the “most important” cases of patient harm
Dr. Mehmet Oz, newly sworn manager of Medicare and Medicaid services, will speak at a ceremony at the White House’s Oval Office on April 18, 2025 (Andrew Harnik/Getty)
FBI officials announced at a press conference that one scheme, called the “Operation Gold Rush,” has been indicted by at least 20 members of a multinational criminal organization, including the Russian-based defendant, as part of a $10 billion Medicare and money laundering operation centered on catheters.
The DOJ Criminal Division’s Healthcare fraud squad led the effort. Galeotti said Monday that DOJ will launch a “Fusion Center” and work together with other agencies to integrate healthcare data as part of its investigation into fraud.
The FBI has announced that one scheme has resulted in at least 20 members of a multinational criminal organization being indicted. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
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Galeotti and Dr. Mehmetto Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrators, also used the press conference to plead for more tips.
“We need your help, American,” Oz said. “Why? Half of the whistleblower tips we get are due to medical fraud, and more than half of the fraud against the government is in medical care.”
Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, covering the Department of Justice and legal affairs. Email story tips to Ashley.oliver@fox.com.
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