LOS ANGELES — The Justice Department charged 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, for health care fraud schemes on Thursday, alleging the fraudulent claims collectively totaled over $1.8 billion.

Over $1.6 billion was billed in a scheme to lure vulnerable individuals to California for sham substance abuse treatment, which the Justice Department stated is the largest sober home fraud scheme it has ever prosecuted. "These charges include the largest sober home fraud scheme the Department has ever prosecuted, and a scheme involving unnecessary invasive procedures detected through data analytics," said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.

The indictment also alleges that $134 million was fraudulently billed to Medicare for unnecessary atherectomy procedures that resulted in injury to patients. In three separate hospice fraud schemes where patients were not terminally ill, over $138 million was fraudulently billed to Medicare. A defendant was indicted in a $270 million scheme to defraud Medi-Cal by submitting pharmacy claims for bogus prescriptions.

Eight defendants were arrested on October 22, 2026. Six of the arrested defendants are expected to make initial appearances at the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, while two of the arrested defendants are expected to make initial appearances at a U.S. District Court in Texas.

"Today the FBI and our partners executed 8 arrests, with 7 additional defendants charged, after the subjects involved allegedly orchestrated a multi-year healthcare fraud scheme resulting in $1.8 billion in losses," said FBI Director Kash Patel. He added that the defendants, including six medical professionals, made fraudulent claims to steal from taxpayer funded healthcare and insurance programs designed to help the most vulnerable.

"It is especially egregious when doctors and other health care professionals, who pledged to do no harm, resort to petty greed and criminality," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. An indictment is merely an allegation.