![\"Feds](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f3rc0ipkeusrtj6l.jpg\")
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LOS ANGELES – A major federal crackdown on California<\/a>\u2019s healthcare <\/a>industry has resulted in eight arrests for a “sham” hospice scheme that allegedly defrauded Medicare of over $50 million.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors have unmasked a sophisticated “pay and chase” scheme where fraudsters obtained legitimate California hospice licenses to bill Medicare for millions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dubbed “Operation Never Say Die,” the investigation revealed that defendants allegedly billed the government approximately $5,000 to $6,000 per patient per month.\u00a0<\/p>\n In some instances, patients were paid $300 kickbacks to pose as terminally ill, while in others, their names were used without their knowledge.<\/p>\n PREVIOUS COVERAGE: DOJ targets California\u2019s \u2018kingdom of fraud\u2019 in massive $60M hospice takedown<\/a><\/p>\n U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli confirmed that 15 separate cases have been announced, involving nearly $60 million in total fraudulent claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n The proceeds were reportedly spent on luxury cars, homes, and international vacations.\u00a0<\/p>\n President Donald Trump on Friday said Vice President JD Vance will focus \u200bon investigating fraud in \u200bDemocratic-run states in his new \u2060role as “fraud czar.”<\/p>\n What we don’t know:<\/p>\n While authorities have seized some bank accounts and property, the exact amount of the $50 million that is recoverable remains unknown, as much of the money is believed to have been funneled to international organizations.\u00a0<\/p>\n PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Inside the $60M takedown: 8 Southern California cases under Medicare fraud investigation<\/a><\/p>\n Whille Essayli suggests total fraud could reach hundreds of billions, the specific scale of remaining “sham” hospices still operating in California has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n “Our criticism of the state of California is that they don\u2019t have sufficient measures in place to prevent and detect fraud in the first instance,” Essayli said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Accountability is important, because if people do not get arrested and go to prison for a long time, other people will not be deterred,” he added. “We want people to know it\u2019s not worth it. Don\u2019t do it. We will wake you up at 6 a.m. with the FBI.”<\/p>\n PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Newsom, Dr. Oz feud intensifies over Armenian ‘mafia’ hospice fraud claims in Los Angeles<\/a><\/p>\n Essayli placed the blame on state administrative failures.<\/p>\n “Our criticism of the state of California is that they don\u2019t have sufficient measures in place to prevent and detect fraud… We don\u2019t want to pay and chase, we want to stop the fraud from happening in the first place.”<\/p>\n In response, Governor Gavin Newsom<\/a> and Attorney General Rob Bonta have pushed back, noting that Medicare is a federally overseen program.\u00a0<\/p>\n SUGGESTED: California dismantles $267 million hospice fraud ring in ‘Operation Skip Chase’; 21 charged<\/a><\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n The federal government, in coordination with Dr. Mehmet Oz (who oversees Medicare\/CMS), plans to implement stricter vetting processes for hospice providers to ensure they are legitimate before they can access billing systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Nick Shirley alleges $170M California daycare fraud in new video, echoing Dr. Oz\u2019s hospice claims<\/a><\/p>\n Essayli signaled that his office is looking to expand its team of attorneys to target other vulnerable programs, including SNAP (food stamps).<\/p>\n The Source: This report is based on an interview with U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and information from the California Attorney General\u2019s Office. The details provided regarding the arrests and “Operation Never Say Die” come directly from federal criminal complaints, indictments, and affidavits filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, as well as previous FOX 11 reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Healthcare<\/a>Health<\/a>California<\/a>California Politics<\/a>10 Freeway Fire<\/a>Gavin Newsom<\/a>Los Angeles<\/a>Instastories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES – A major federal crackdown on California\u2019s healthcare industry has resulted in eight arrests for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[114763,1184,5713,7,9,8,2042,457,1570,1902,2444,47,137,100,592,13,425,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-260761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-10-freeway-fire","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-ca-politics","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-california-headlines","13":"tag-california-news","14":"tag-crime-publicsafety","15":"tag-gavin-newsom","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-healthcare","18":"tag-instastories","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-county","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-people","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-series","25":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/v002mxqjuaplpckx.jpg\")
Trump says fraud raids in LA underway<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"DOJ](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/x7da98lbfgiwkdri.jpg\")
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