Feds go after California well being care fraud in morning takedown

Federal authorities, fed up with California leaders’ inaction on well being care fraud, launched a sequence of raids Thursday, arresting suspects accused of bilking taxpayers out of tens of millions.

Eight folks had been taken into custody throughout “Operation By no means Say Die,” together with three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist, who all face federal costs for allegedly scamming the nation’s well being care system of greater than $50 million. 

“When the state says that they’re taking fraud severely, it’s a daring confronted lie,” First Assistant United States Legal professional Invoice Essayli instructed reporters throughout a Thursday press convention. 

The defendants allegedly ran sham hospice services that recruited beneficiaries who weren’t terminally ailing, based on federal officers. 

Round 6 a.m., SWAT groups descended onto the Anaheim house of Gladwin Gill, 66, and his spouse, Amelou Gill, 70, who had been charged with well being care fraud and allegedly submitted $5.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice providers that weren’t medically needed or ever supplied.  

The Gills began a hospice company beneath their daughter’s title as a result of they each had a previous prison historical past of tax evasion, which barred them from opening a facility. 

“They’re working this fraudulent hospice beneath their daughter’s title and the nurse would fabricate and add issues to the medical file to make it appear to be the beneficiaries had been terminally ailing once they weren’t,” Essayli defined. 

Nita Palma, 76, who’s a thrice-convicted well being care fraudster and is at present incarcerated in federal jail for well being care fraud, partnered together with her husband Adolfo Catbagan, 68, to open at the least three fraudulent hospice companies — together with whereas Palma was free on bond awaiting a hospice fraud trial, authorities mentioned. 

Catbagan was arrested this morning, and his spouse faces one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and well being care fraud, and 10 counts of well being care fraud. 

Legislation enforcement arrested a handful of different alleged well being care fraudsters, all with comparable tales. 

“We need to be very frank about this, the federal authorities is the purse — all the cash comes from the federal authorities, nevertheless it’s administered by the states,” Essayli mentioned. “California is accountable for issuing hospice licenses. They’re accountable for regulating medical doctors and nurses, and the issue that you just see in California is that there isn’t any vetting and there’s no checking.” 

The raids come on the heels of a California Publish investigation that exposed a community of suspicions medical doctors who seem like driving tens of tens of millions of questionable billing in California’s hospice system. 

Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz introduced through the press convention Thursday that the US Legal professional’s workplace can be going after Dr. Fariba Javaherian, a dermatologist who was related to 63 hospice services throughout the state and billed Medicare greater than $35 million in 2025. 

“There are different folks concerned that the US lawyer goes after, Fariba Javehrian, in all probability examine final night time, had her billing privileges revoked yesterday,” Dr. Oz instructed reporters. “For some cause, though everybody knew there was an issue there, her 113 companies she labored with, one physician was working with.” 

The announcement comes a day after The Publish revealed dermatologist Javaherian had her billing license revoked following the investigation. 

Between Jan. 1, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2025, Javaherian’s NPI was used for greater than 31,000 claims at 130 totally different hospice companies, totaling greater than $173 million, based on CMS billing knowledge obtained by The Publish.   

She has not been charged with any wrongdoing, however Dr. Oz’s announcement Thursday that the US Legal professional is trying into Javaherian alerts what he calls a “seismic shift” within the companies strategy to cracking down on potential fraudulent companies and well being care suppliers. 

“CMS goes to droop funds and cease cash from leaving the US, that’s our purpose. We’re going to evaluation each single hospice in California to ensure they’re all acceptable, and we hope to do this expeditiously — we’ll do it this 12 months,” he mentioned, including that CMS has already suspended 221 hospice licenses. 

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