{"id":372666,"date":"2026-06-24T06:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T06:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372666\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T06:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T06:38:13","slug":"10-southern-california-defendants-charged-in-270m-medi-cal-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372666\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Southern California defendants charged in $270M Medi-Cal fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laura Ingraham: Fraudsters beware!<\/a> <\/p>\n

The Department of Justice announces the largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history, charging 455 defendants across 45 states. They allegedly stole $6.5 billion from Medicare and Medicaid through wound care schemes and other fraudulent claims. Some funds were used for luxury homes and vehicles like a $135,000 Maserati.<\/p>\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

Federal authorities on Tuesday charged 10 Southern California<\/a> defendants in a series of healthcare fraud schemes, including one case involving nearly $270 million in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims and another that allegedly defrauded Medicare out of approximately $27 million.<\/p>\n

The charges were part of the Justice Department’s broader “2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown,” which resulted in charges against 455 defendants nationwide in schemes involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged fraud.<\/p>\n

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche described the operation as “the greatest combined federal and state effort in combating healthcare fraud in history.”<\/p>\n

“Fraudsters can no longer rip off American taxpayers,” Blanche said during a news conference announcing the initiative. “If you seek to harm or cheat Americans, we will find you, seize any assets and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”<\/p>\n

FBI ADDS 2 FUGITIVES TO ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST AMID HISTORIC $6.5B HEALTHCARE TAKEDOWN: PATEL<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Acting <\/p>\n

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference announcing what federal officials described as the largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history, resulting in charges against 455 defendants nationwide. (Ken Cedeno \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In the Central District of California<\/a>, federal prosecutors brought criminal charges against 10 defendants accused of defrauding government-funded healthcare programs or abusing their positions as medical professionals to illegally prescribe controlled substances.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said five individuals were arrested in the greater Los Angeles area for allegedly participating in a scheme that involved submitting nearly $270 million in fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal for expensive prescription drugs.<\/p>\n

Among those charged was Christina Mareik, 61, also known as Christina Marie Sanchez Hernandez, of Whittier.<\/p>\n

HOSPICE FRAUD USES STOLEN IDENTITIES FOR FAKE PATIENTS<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Justice Department announced charges against 10 Southern California defendants in connection with multiple healthcare fraud schemes. (Department of Justice)<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Mareik helped facilitate fraudulent prescriptions that generated nearly $270 million in claims to Medi-Cal, which ultimately paid out more than $178 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, the claims involved expensive drugs containing low-cost generic ingredients that were either not medically necessary or were never provided to the purported recipients.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Mareik also sent thousands of fraudulent prescriptions to a co-conspirator and caused the submission of fraudulent prescriptions under her own name.<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES HOSPICE FRAUD REACHES BILLIONS AS MEDICARE PROVIDERS SCAM FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH FAKE COMPANIES<\/a><\/p>\n

\"alleged <\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors allege Southern California defendants participated in schemes that defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal of hundreds of millions of dollars. (Department of Justice)<\/p>\n

Mareik was arrested June 17 and charged with healthcare fraud.<\/p>\n

The charges also include a San Fernando Valley man accused of operating hospice care companies that fraudulently<\/a> billed Medicare approximately $27 million, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also charged Oren David Shachar, 59, of Van Nuys; Abraham Shin, 66, of Corona; and Jeannie Choi, 57, of Torrance.<\/p>\n

The three defendants face a 16-count indictment alleging they conspired to defraud Medicare out of approximately $27 million.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

The charges include conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft<\/a>, monetary transactions involving criminally derived property exceeding $10,000, and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laura Ingraham: Fraudsters beware! The Department of Justice announces the largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history, charging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,73020,1055,49277,47],"class_list":["post-372666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-corruption-crime","tag-fbi","tag-health-care-healthy-living","tag-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372666","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=372666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}