{"id":360046,"date":"2026-06-14T04:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/360046\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T04:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:35:17","slug":"top-federal-prosecutor-calls-california-a-fraudsters-paradise-warns-state-officials-could-face-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/360046\/","title":{"rendered":"Top federal prosecutor calls California a ‘fraudster’s paradise,’ warns state officials could face charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

A top federal prosecutor in Southern California told Fox News<\/a> the state has transformed into a “fraudster\u2019s paradise,” accusing state leaders of allowing millions of dollars in fraud.<\/p>\n

Speaking on “Saturday in America<\/a>,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli highlighted a string of federal busts, including a $45 million Medicare Botox scam. He added that federal investigators “will not hesitate” to prosecute any officials found to be enabling the fraud.<\/p>\n

“California is truly the fraudster’s paradise,” Essayli said Saturday. “It’s very hard to tell sometimes if it truly is just massive incompetence or corruption, and that’s a very fine line sometimes.<\/p>\n

“If we ever develop evidence that there are people inside the government who are benefiting from the fraud or who are enabling the fraud, we will not hesitate to charge them.”<\/p>\n

California Doctor Convicted Of $45M Medicare Fraud Scheme That Funded Luxury Vacations And A $12K Crossbow<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, answered questions during a news conference outside the San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s Department on April 10, 2026, in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.<\/p>\n

(Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Essayli said new leadership at the Justice Department<\/a> is “laser-focused” on going after those committing fraud and saving the American people money. He discussed cases in his district, including what the FBI in Los Angeles called the “largest Botox fraud scheme in the United States.”<\/p>\n

Read On The Fox News App<\/a><\/p>\n

Violetta Mailyan, a doctor in California, was convicted in a $45 million scheme<\/a> to defraud Medicare by submitting claims for Botox injections that either were not given or were unnecessary.<\/p>\n

“The Botox scheme was a conviction right here in Los Angeles, and we’re going after those assets. We’re [going to] get probably $20 million of her assets returned to the taxpayers after that conviction,” Essayli said.<\/p>\n

Vance Anti-fraud Task Force Suspends 221 California Hospice And Healthcare Providers So Far<\/a><\/p>\n

Essayli argued that the way California hands out medical licenses is helping to fuel fraud, questioning whether it’s “incompetence or corruption” behind it and adding that state politicians “really don’t care” because it\u2019s federal money being used.<\/p>\n

“A lot of this is just like reckless, massive incompetence and negligence<\/a> to hand out this many licenses without vetting or checking that these are legitimate medical providers,” he said. “You really are just handing the keys to the piggy bank over to these fraudsters.”<\/p>\n

Decorated General Links Trump Iran Strikes To Historic Bombing Blitz That Forced Vietnam Peace Pact<\/a><\/p>\n

The prosecutor also had a message for potential fraudsters, telling them to “be on alert.”<\/p>\n

“You could be next,” Essayli said. “And you probably will be next because we’re not putting up with it here anymore.”<\/p>\n

In March, President Donald Trump chose Vice President JD Vance<\/a> to lead the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. Since then, the White House says it has identified several major fraud rings involving hospice care and childcare centers.<\/p>\n

\"Mehmet<\/p>\n

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, right, and Vice President JD Vance, left, announced an unprecedented freeze in Medicaid payments to California, citing fraud concerns.<\/p>\n

Click Here To Download The Fox News App<\/a><\/p>\n

In May, Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced the administration would withhold $1.3 billion in federal<\/a> Medicaid funding from California due to oversight concerns.<\/p>\n

At the time, Vance told Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany the administration\u2019s anti-fraud task force was looking into whether government officials enabled the alleged scams. He warned that anyone who covered up the abuse<\/a> “ought to go to prison.”<\/p>\n

Original article source: Top federal prosecutor calls California a ‘fraudster’s paradise,’ warns state officials could face charges<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A top federal prosecutor in Southern California told Fox News the state has transformed into a “fraudster\u2019s paradise,”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5781,94798,7,9,8,15325,32433,14627,14019,28437,146512,1009],"class_list":["post-360046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bill-essayli","tag-botox","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-central-district-of-california","tag-federal-investigators","tag-federal-prosecutor","tag-fox-news","tag-fraudster","tag-incompetence","tag-southern-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360046","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=360046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}