Twenty-one people nationwide have been hit with criminal charges for their alleged participation in various health care related fraud schemes that exploited the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on April 20.
The cases resulted in nearly $150 million in alleged false billings and theft from federal pandemic assistance programs. The DOJ seized over $8 million in cash and other fraud proceeds.
Some of the people charged are accused of offering COVID-19 testing to induce patients to provide their personal identifying information and a saliva or blood sample.
The defendants are alleged to have then used the information and samples to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for “unrelated, medically unnecessary, and far more expensive tests or services.”
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