More than 450 alleged fraudsters — including 90 doctors and medical professionals — were busted for bilking at least $6.5 billion in fake Medicare and Medicaid claims, with one greedy nurse splashing her ill-gotten gains on an $865,000 Bulgari necklace, $594,000 Ferrari and a $4.6 million Philippines beach resort, authorities said.
The colossal crackdown, which spanned 45 US states and territories, was announced Tuesday by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who called it “the greatest combined federal and state effort combating health care fraud in history.”
In total, 455 people were netted — including alleged con artists who blew the taxpayer funds meant to help the poorest Americans on luxury cars, jewelry, mansions, fine art, an NFL box and a yacht cheekily named “Butt Nekkid.”
In one of the most egregious cases, a student athlete in Florida died during basketball practice — after the doctor who was part of an $89 million fraud scheme signed off on his cardiovascular test after giving it only a cursory glance, the Department of Justice charged.
A nurse in Texas was charged with billing Medicare for $1 million for each patient she applied unnecessary tissue grafts to, the feds alleged.
Marizel Yukee, 49, of Las Vegas, was charged with fraudulently billing $906 million in claims for which she was paid $297 million.
She allegedly funneled the stolen funds to buy posh cars, real estate, jewelry and even built a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines, prosecutors claimed.
When she was arrested, the feds seized $30 million from her bank accounts, $467,000 in cash, a $594,000 Ferrari 296 GTS, seven other luxury vehicles, an $865,000 custom Bulgari necklace and another million worth of jewelry, officials claimed.
Separately, three Florida nurses were busted for an $118 million tissue graft scheme. Leigh Tesar allegedly spent $215,000 on a luxury box suite at the Raymond James Stadium, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play, according to a criminal indictment.
She also allegedly spent $400,000 on fine art, according to the court papers.
The vice president of sales at a company that sold bioengineered skin substitutes allegedly carried out an illegal kickback scheme from 2021 to 2024, paying medical providers to push their product, prosecutors claim.
Brian Rowan, 47, of Las Vegas, made over $24 million at the company and bought multi-million dollar homes, million-dollar life insurance policies, and high-end watches and cars, including a $135,000 Maserati, the feds alleged.
The Arizona-based company was pedaling amniotic wound grafts, which they purchased from a tissue banks and then sold at a 2,000% markup — or $1,450 per square centimeter, the feds said.
Rowan and other execs used 40% of their profits to payout kickbacks, officials alleged.
The scheme targeted hospice patients for the skin grafts, which would be applied without the consultation of their doctors, without protecting against infections — and sometimes applying them to superficial wounds that didn’t require the grafts or to larger areas than needed, prosecutors claimed.
In total, he and his co-conspirators billed $1.2 billion for unnecessary allografts and were ultimately paid out $614 million, the feds allege.
Two others, Jeffrey King and Alexandra Gehrke, have previously been sentenced to 15.5 years and 14 years behind bars for their roles in this scheme, which netted them $97 million in cash, $21 million in life insurance policies and four luxury cars, including a Ferrari 488 Spider convertible and three top-end Mercedes vehicles, the feds alleged.
One alleged fraudster in Illinois billed Medicaid for behavioral health services for hundreds of hours a day — despite the fact he didn’t have enough staff to justify it, the feds alleged.
Daniel Robinson, 51, of Palos Park, Illinois, allegedly billed for $67 million for counseling and therapy services that wouldn’t have been realistic even if all of the providers at his company, ODA Solutions, Inc., worked 24 hours a day, according to a complaint.
His total claims were $92 million, and he received $75 million, according to docs.
The money was diverted toward $44 million in investment accounts, $10 million to open up a luxury car dealership, $4 million to buy real estate and fund home renovations, court papers allege.
He also allegedly owned a yacht named “Butt Nekkid” that was docked in Chicago, court papers show.
A Texas doctor allegedly carried out an $89 million medical fraud scheme that ended with a student athlete’s death, the feds alleged.
Dr. Jason Finkelstein, 53, of Fort Worth, Texas, allegedly tested the hearts of student athletes at campuses around the country, submitting $89 million in claims under his two companies, Cardiovascular Testing Services PA and Cardiovascular Healthcare Associates PA, the feds claimed.
Yet Finkelstein made up bogus conditions to justify the cardiac testing of the students and signing off on the results after only reviewing them for seconds, prosecutors claimed.
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In October 2024, he allegedly claimed one student’s results were “normal” even though the tests showed the student potentially had heart problems.
The student died 24 days later of cardiac arrest during practice with his basketball team, the feds alleged.
Even after Finkelstein was told of the student’s death, he continued to rubber-stamp test results, prosecutors claimed.
A Florida man allegedly ran two bogus medical supply companies and fraudulently billed Medicaid and Medicare for $3.76 billion, court papers allege.
Ibrahim Hilmi, 58, of Miami, billed for medical equipment and wound dressing that his companies, ABRH Car, Inc., and Sunshine Senior Solutions LLC, never provided, court papers alleged.
Most of the money he billed for was never paid out to him, but he did receive $5.7 million in his companies’ accounts, according to a criminal indictment.
And within weeks, that money was transferred abroad to Hong Kong and to Indonesia, the court papers allege.
When Hilmi started getting negative reviews accusing him of health care fraud, he fled abroad and kept the racket going by getting others to run his business accounts, the indictment alleges.
He was arrested in Kyrenia, Cyprus, and brought to Florida for his first court appearance in the case Monday, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for Tesar, Yukee, Gehrke, King and Finkelstein didn’t immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.
It wasn’t immediately known what lawyers were representing Rowan and Robinson.
Additional reporting by Ally Goelz
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