US says it halts healthcare fraud schemes worth nearly $15 billion

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday that it halted a series of healthcare fraud schemes that sought to bilk the federal government out of $14.6 billion.

The operation, which the department called the largest healthcare fraud initiative in its history, led to criminal charges against 324 defendants and the seizure of more than $245 million in cash, luxury cars and other assets. The actual loss to the U.S. government totaled about $2.9 billion, officials said.

“Today marks a decisive moment in our fight to protect American taxpayers from fraudsters and to defend the integrity of America’s healthcare system,” Matthew Galeotti, the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, told reporters during a press conference.

Those charged include 93 doctors and other medical professionals accused of submitting false claims to government healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Some of the schemes were run by transnational criminal organizations based outside the U.S., who have been perpetuating increasingly complex fraud operations targeting the American healthcare system, Justice Department officials said.

One such scheme, which prosecutors said was run out of Russia and Eastern European countries, led to charges against 19 defendants, 12 of whom have been arrested.

The group used a network of foreign straw owners to buy dozens of U.S. medical supply companies and, using stolen American identities, submitted more than $10 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare, according to the Justice Department.

“It’s not being done by small-time operators,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “These are organized syndicates who are designing to hurt America.”

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Andrea Ricci)