WASHINGTON, DC—The Justice Department on Monday announced criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 medical professionals, in a nationwide health care fraud takedown involving more than $14.6 billion in alleged schemes.
The 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, described by officials as an “unprecedented effort,” spanned 50 federal districts and involved 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices. Authorities seized more than $245 million in assets, including cash, luxury vehicles, and cryptocurrency, as part of the coordinated enforcement.
“This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reported preventing more than $4 billion from being paid out in response to false claims and suspended or revoked the billing privileges of 205 providers in the months leading up to the takedown. Additionally, civil charges were filed against 20 defendants for $14.2 million in alleged fraud, and civil settlements totaling $34.3 million were reached with 106 defendants.
The operation was led by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, in partnership with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“The Criminal Division is intensely committed to rooting out health care fraud schemes and prosecuting the criminals who perpetrate them because these schemes: (1) often result in physical patient harm… (2) contribute to our nationwide opioid epidemic… and (3) do all of that while stealing money hardworking Americans contribute,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Among the schemes targeted:
- Transnational Criminal Organizations: Twenty-nine defendants were charged in connection with over $12 billion in fraudulent claims. This included “Operation Gold Rush,” which resulted in charges against 19 defendants for allegedly submitting $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims for durable medical equipment, exploiting stolen identities of over one million Americans. Authorities said they prevented all but approximately $41 million of $4.45 billion scheduled to be paid by Medicare in this scheme. Other cases involved $703 million in schemes using artificial intelligence to create fake recordings for Medicare beneficiaries and $650 million in fraudulent billing to Arizona Medicaid for substandard addiction treatment, including kickbacks for patient referrals from homeless populations and Native American reservations.
- Fraudulent Wound Care: Seven defendants, including five medical professionals, were charged in connection with approximately $1.1 billion in fraudulent claims for amniotic wound allografts, often applied unnecessarily to vulnerable elderly patients, including those in hospice care.
- Prescription Opioid Trafficking: Seventy-four defendants, including 44 medical professionals, were charged in 58 cases for the alleged illegal diversion of over 15 million prescription opioid pills and other controlled substances. One Texas pharmacy alone was allegedly involved in the unlawful distribution of more than 3 million opioid pills.
- Telemedicine and Genetic Testing Fraud: Forty-nine defendants were charged in schemes involving over $1.17 billion in allegedly fraudulent Medicare claims, often stemming from deceptive telemarketing campaigns for durable medical equipment and genetic tests.
FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the scale of the takedown. “With more than $13 billion in fraud uncovered, this is the largest takedown for this initiative to date,” Patel said.
To enhance future efforts, the Justice Department announced the creation of a Health Care Fraud Data Fusion Center, collaborating with HHS-OIG, FBI, and other agencies. This center will leverage cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to identify emerging fraud schemes more efficiently.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers over $27 billion.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels
