On the morning of April 2nd, the United States federal agencies launched a major search operation in several cities in Southern California, arresting multiple healthcare professionals suspected of medical fraud. The Department of Justice subsequently unsealed charges against 15 defendants, revealing the massive healthcare fraud scheme in California and promising to recover billions of dollars in stolen funds.
Chief Federal Prosecutor for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, announced during a press conference that under the leadership of Vice President JD Vance’s “Task Force to Combat Federal Welfare Fraud,” this week alone saw the arrest of 8 defendants, including nurses, chiropractors, and psychologists.
Currently, 15 defendants face federal charges for conspiring to defraud the U.S. healthcare system, amounting to nearly $60 million in fraudulent claims. Their tactics included running “ghost” Hospice Care facilities, registering non-terminally ill individuals as beneficiaries, submitting false bills, and swindling federal Medicare funds.
Assistant Director Akil Davis of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office revealed that in the operation codenamed “Never Give Up” on Thursday morning, various partners collaborated with the FBI to execute a series of arrest warrants in cities such as Covina, Anaheim, Glendale, Lakewood, and even as far as Coeur D’Alene in Idaho.
He emphasized, “Southern California is a high-risk zone for end-of-life care facilities and related healthcare fraud.” Healthcare fraud in the U.S. causes annual losses in the tens of billions of dollars, ultimately borne by taxpayers.
The scale of healthcare fraud in California appears to far exceed $60 million, with Essayli describing the state as a “kingdom of fraud.”
He stated, “This is just the beginning. You will see more charges, more arrests, and more crackdowns on criminal organizations. These actions will occur about every one to two months. We currently have a large number of ongoing investigations.”
Currently, assistant prosecutors from various departments such as “Major Fraud,” “Major Crimes,” and “Transnational Organized Crime” in the U.S. Attorney’s Office are responsible for prosecuting the aforementioned cases. If convicted, the defendants could face serious penalties ranging from up to 10 to 20 years, or even stacked sentences, depending on the charges and circumstances of each case.
The Department of Justice also revealed more fraudulent practices in end-of-life care cases, such as defendants recruiting Medicare beneficiaries without terminal illnesses by offering cash or gifts as inducements to sign agreements for hospice services.
Lolita Beronilla Minerd, a 65-year-old professional nurse arrested on Thursday morning, implemented fraud using this method. Documents showed that she operated an end-of-life care facility named “Topanga Hospice Care Inc.,” registering many Medicare beneficiaries who were not terminally ill. From July 2020 to April 2025, Minerd submitted over $9.17 million in false claims to federal Medicare and illegally obtained around $8.51 million.
Further investigations revealed Minerd paid kickbacks to beneficiaries. One couple reported being approached at a supermarket, persuaded to sign up for end-of-life services, and then visited at home by Minerd and her staff, promising free medical services upon registration and an additional $300 cash subsidy per person monthly.
Furthermore, this non-terminally ill couple received unnecessary items such as nutritional meal replacements, non-prescription vitamins, and wheelchairs.
The premise of hospice care is that a doctor predicts the patient will pass away within six months. However, most patients of Minerd’s end-of-life care facility ultimately left alive.
In another lawsuit, defendant psychologist Gladwin Gill and his wife, registered nurse Amelou Gill, operated a nursing facility named “St. Francis Palliative Care.” Court documents indicated that the Gills illegally referred non-“end-of-life” patients to their facility through paying kickbacks, thereby fraudulently obtaining over $4 million in false claims from federal Medicare. Subsequently, they laundered the fraud proceeds for personal expenses.
Officials pointed out that the defendants turned end-of-life care services into a “profit machine.”
As early as January this year, the Director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, disclosed that California may have at least several billion dollars in healthcare fraud, potentially larger than a fraud case in Minnesota. One focus of the investigation is on “illegal end-of-life care facilities” controlled by foreign entities.
Using Los Angeles County as an example, Oz stated at the press conference on Thursday that 18% of end-of-life care and home health care expenditures in the U.S. came from the Los Angeles area alone, totaling $3.5 billion.
Investigators noted that the rapid expansion of end-of-life care facilities in Los Angeles County began in 2010.
That year, the county had 109 hospice facilities serving about 1 million seniors; however, by 2021, this had surged to 1,841 facilities serving around 1.4 million people. A government survey revealed that within a 22,500-square-foot building in Van Nuys, there were over 150 licensed end-of-life care and home healthcare facilities.
Oz stated during the press conference that if the fraud, waste, and abuse in the U.S. healthcare system could be eradicated, families across America would benefit, with more funds available to cover various expenses for family and health needs.
In addition to arresting and prosecuting those involved, authorities are conducting further investigations to determine if state government officials or insiders facilitated or assisted fraud syndicates through “malfeasance or misconduct.”
California Governor Newsom has consistently denied the accusations from federal agencies, emphasizing that California has been rigorously combating fraud in healthcare assistance programs.