Dozens Arrested in $100M Medicare Case Bust; Doctor & Patient IDs Allegedly Stolen
Developing: Perhaps 100 people have been arrested in California, Georgia, Ohio, New Mexico and New York, in a record-breaking Medicare fraud case that allegedly involved $100 million in bogus billings and the use of stolen doctor and patient identities.
Some 40 individuals were arrested in New York alone and an estimated 36 or so in California, according to the L.A. Now blog of the Los Angeles Times and the City Room blog of the New York Times.
“With 118 phantom clinics and over $100 million in bogus billings, this group of international gangsters allegedly ran a veritable fraud franchise,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan in a written statement. “As charged, they stole taxpayer dollars earmarked for the elderly and infirm and got away with it, until now.”
The sweep announced today concerns an Armenian-American organized crime group, at least part of which is known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, reports the Wall Street Journal. Authorities say the group is headquartered in New York and Los Angeles.
The case is allegedly the largest Medicare fraud ever perpetrated by a single group which resulted in criminal charges.
More details are expected to be revealed in news conferences later today.
Related earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com (July 2010): “94 Indicted, 36 Arrested This Morning in Record 5-State, $251M Medicare Fraud Bust”
