Breaking: Southern California Healthcare Scandal Unveiled – Doctors and Nurses Arrested in Massive Fraud Investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a significant crackdown on health care fraud in Southern California on Thursday, leading to the arrest of several doctors and nurses.

During a press conference, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, flanked by representatives from various law enforcement agencies including the FBI, revealed the details of the operation. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also attended the briefing.

Authorities executed multiple search and arrest warrants across the region, stretching from Covina to Lakewood in Los Angeles County. This operation resulted in the arrest of eight individuals, with over a dozen facing charges related to health care fraud.

The investigation also uncovered schemes involving fraudulent hospice care.

“These defendants recruited beneficiaries who were not terminally ill and compensated them to act as hospice care patients,” Essayli explained. “As a result, Medicare disbursed hundreds of millions of dollars in payments for false and fraudulent claims made by these perpetrators.”

Among those arrested were a Covina couple. Prosecutors said 66-year-old psychologist Gladwin Gill and his wife, Amelou Gill, a registered nurse, operated a fraudulent hospice business out of Glendale.

“This particular hospice submitted more than $5.2 million in fraudulent claims, and Medicare actually paid out more than $4 million,” Essayli said.

Gill’s attorney told our sister station, ABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles, he denies the allegations and looks forward to his day in court.

Oz announced a broader review of hospice providers in the state.

“We’re going to review every single hospice in California to make sure that they’re all appropriate, and we hope to do that expeditiously. We’ll do it this year,” Oz said.

During the news conference, federal authorities were questioned about a video California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in January his office was reviewing. In that video, Oz, who is Turkish American, was shown standing in front of an Armenian-owned bakery in Van Nuys while alleging widespread fraud in the area.

Essayli confirmed that none of the defendants named Thursday were connected to that video. Oz responded to outcry that his accusations, which the business owner denounced as false, were discriminatory.

“I was stating the facts as they’ve been explained to me, and we have a lot of evidence of where the fraud is, just looking at the numbers,” Oz said.

Oz did not provide any evidence against a specific business in connection to that video. He suggested that half of Los Angeles County hospice care facilities are fraudulent, pointing to survival percentages as evidence.

“World experts at CMS say if you’ve got 100% or near survival, certainly if you’ve got a survival over 50% for population that’s supposed to have passed in six months, you’ve got a problem,” he said.

Newsom responded to accusations that California had not done enough to address hospice fraud, saying in part, “The Trump Administration – home to the biggest fraudsters on Earth – is trying to blame California for issues with THEIR federal programs.”

His press office said the state has taken action for years, including suspending more than 280 licenses and banning new ones.