Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announced charges on October 22, 2026 against 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, in schemes the Justice Department says produced over $1.8 billion in fraudulent claims to government and private health care programs. Eight of the defendants were arrested.

Among the cases are three hospice schemes totaling over $138 million in Medicare billing. In those cases, the department says, patients were signed up for hospice without knowing it.

For Medicare patients, the question is whether a hospice they never chose is billing under their number. The Justice Department’s release says that in one case patients learned of their enrollment only when Medicare or their primary care providers contacted them, and that some reported never having the terminal conditions listed in their records. A patient who gets a call or a notice about hospice care they did not ask for is in the situation prosecutors describe.

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Where the $1.8 billion came from

Most of the total is not Medicare. The department puts the substance abuse treatment case at over $1.6 billion billed to private insurers, which it calls the largest case of its type it has prosecuted. Nathan Young, 39, and David Young, 71, both of Los Angeles, and Honey and Cody Phipps of Greenville, Texas, face conspiracy, health care fraud and kickback-law charges in that case. Nicholas Moore, 33, of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, admitting he helped with $199 million in fraudulent claims.

Two other cases also run into the hundreds of millions. A Whittier woman, Christina Mareik, 61, is accused of submitting about $269 million in false Medi-Cal pharmacy claims, with at least about $178.7 million paid. And Dr. Harold Tabaie, 78, of Anaheim, and chiropractor Hany Malek, 61, of Tarzana, are accused in a $134 million Medicare case over unnecessary arterial procedures called atherectomies.

The three hospice cases

Geoffrey Jimenez, 60, of Los Angeles, is charged through Transitions Hospice, Inc. The department says about $9.8 million was billed and over $8.3 million paid, with another $107 million allegedly billed through more than a dozen related entities.

Dr. Richard Keech, 83, of Torrance, is charged over a scheme causing over $10 million in false hospice claims. The release says he signed terminal illness certifications for beneficiaries who had not elected hospice and did not know they had been placed on it. Armani Raffi, 59, of Van Nuys, is charged over four interconnected hospices that submitted about $21 million in false claims and were paid over $17.5 million.

Kickbacks and drug samples

Dr. Hassan Badday, 48, and Dr. Robby Ayoub, 52, are charged in separate indictments over kickbacks tied to medically unnecessary genetic testing. Badday’s orders led to over $4.2 million in claims and $2.8 million in reimbursements, and Ayoub’s to over $1.3 million in claims and about $900,000 in reimbursements. Thomas Steven Mladinich, 38, of Newport Beach, is charged with receiving an estimated $150,000 to $250,000 for patient referrals.

Dr. Dejun Wang, 62, of Walnut, is accused of selling prescription drug samples, including Rybelsus, Ozempic and Mounjaro, to pharmacy owners.

What officials said and what happens next

“Healthcare fraud is not a victimless crime,” said Darren Lian, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Los Angeles. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said it is “especially egregious when doctors and other health care professionals, who pledged to do no harm” are accused. The FBI, HHS-OIG, IRS-CI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and the California Department of Justice worked the cases.

The release states that “all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” and that “an indictment is merely an allegation.” In the Tabaie and Malek case, the Justice Department’s Fraud Division Victim Assistance line is 1-888-549-3945. Patients who find a hospice they never chose on a Medicare statement can also report it to the HHS Office of Inspector General, which took part in the investigation.

Found a hospice on a Medicare statement that was never chosen?

Prosecutors say patients in these cases found out they had been placed on hospice only after Medicare or their doctors called. A patient in that spot has records to gather, a number to report to and personal details that may already be in a stranger’s hands.

The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit gives the first-hour recovery plan, a fraud evidence and report log for dates, calls and statements, and the free credit-freeze steps, so a Medicare patient has a written sequence to follow the same day.

Get the Senior Fraud Defense Kit’s first-hour plan for a hospice billing mix-up →

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• 15 Steps to Stop the Scams That Took $7.7 Billion From Seniors

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.