455 Defendants. $6,500,000,000 in Alleged Fraud. The DOJ Just Ran Its Largest-Ever Health Care Takedown.

On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown: 455 defendants charged — including 90 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals — in schemes the government says targeted more than $6,500,000,000 in false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other taxpayer programs. It is, by defendant count, the largest coordinated health care fraud enforcement action in department history.

The cases span 56 federal districts and 45 states and territories, with 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units joining — the most ever. Agents seized more than $182,000,000 in cash, luxury cars, jewelry, and real estate. A separate Central District of California batch charged 10 Southern California defendants in what prosecutors there called the largest such crackdown in U.S. history, one case alone alleging nearly $270,000,000 in fraudulent Medi-Cal billing.

Every defendant here is charged, not convicted; an indictment is an allegation, and each is presumed innocent until proven guilty. This page lays out the numbers the DOJ put on the record, how the schemes allegedly worked — from hospice and genetic-testing kickbacks to a transnational catheter ring — who is running the prosecution, and where the money went, source by source.

• 455 defendants — charged in the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, including 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals · Source: DOJ Office of Public Affairs, June 23, 2026
• $6,500,000,000 — in alleged false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs across the charged schemes · Source: DOJ; HHS-OIG
• 56 districts · 45 states — the reach of the cases, with 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units participating — the most in department history · Source: DOJ Office of Public Affairs
• $182,000,000 — in cash, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and other assets seized in the two-week operation · Source: DOJ; Fierce Healthcare
• 295 defendants · $518,000,000 — record Medicaid defendants and the false-claim total tied to them — a new high for the unit's takedowns · Source: Fierce Healthcare; DOJ
• 10 SoCal defendants — charged separately in the Central District of California, one case alleging nearly $270,000,000 in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims · Source: U.S. Attorney, C.D. Cal.; Fox News

The framing came straight from the top. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the results at a Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building press conference, calling it “the greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history” and warning that “fraudsters can no longer rip off American taxpayers.” Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) added that the administration “will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars.”

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The raw figures: 455 defendants, more than $6,500,000,000in alleged false claims, 56 federal districts, 45 states and territories, and 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units. By head count it tops the prior record — the 2025 takedown charged 324 defendants — though that earlier operation carried a larger headline loss figure of $14,600,000,000in intended loss. (That conflation is why some early coverage cited “324”: it was last year’s number.) Of this year’s defendants, 90 were licensed medical professionals; a record 295 faced Medicaid-specific charges tied to more than $518,000,000 in false claims.

“This year's National Health Care Fraud Takedown represents the greatest whole-of-government effort to combat health care fraud in our Nation's history.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, June 23, 2026 (per DOJ)

The charged conduct runs across the familiar fault lines of federal health spending. Prosecutors describe a skin-substitute (amniotic wound allograft) scheme in which operators allegedly acquired the grafts and relabeled them at a roughly 2,000% markup, billing more than $4,000,000,000 and collecting about $2,000,000,000over two and a half years. Other cases include hospice fraud — enrolling patients who were not terminally ill — medically unnecessary genetic testing paid through kickbacks, opioid-prescription abuse, and outright billing for services never rendered.

Specific cases sharpen the picture. One defendant allegedly submitted $89,000,000 in false claims for cardiovascular testing, approving results in as little as 11 seconds without real review. An Illinois behavioral-health provider was charged in a $67,000,000scheme for services prosecutors say were never provided. The department credits data analytics — new data-sharing agreements with the FTC, DHS, and CMS, run through machine-learning models — with flagging the “worst actors.” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. both appeared at the announcement, alongside DEA head Terrance Cole.

What separates the 2026 takedown is the international reach. DOJ said the two-week sweep brought back fraudsters from overseas: a defendant in Kyrenia tied to an alleged scheme topping $3,700,000,000; two defendants in Estonia connected to a previously charged $10,600,000,000scheme; and one of the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters captured in the Philippines on a previously charged $1,200,000,000 telemedicine case. FBI Director Kash Patel announced two new additions to the bureau’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list at the same event.

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The $10,600,000,000figure traces to “Operation Gold Rush” — the catheter and durable-medical-equipment ring first charged in 2025, run from Russia and Eastern Europe using foreign straw owners who bought up dozens of U.S. medical-supply companies and stole the identities of more than a million Americans across all 50 states. CMS and HHS-OIG say they blocked all but about $41,000,000 of roughly $4,450,000,000 in scheduled Medicare payments on that scheme. The 2026 takedown is the follow-through: foreign defendants in that and related cases physically returned to the United States to face charges.

The Central District of California announced its own piece of the takedown as the largest federal health care fraud crackdown in the district’s history. Ten defendants were charged. The biggest single case: prosecutors allege Christina Mareik, 61, of Whittier, submitted nearly $270,000,000in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims for expensive prescription drugs that were often filled with low-cost generic ingredients, medically unnecessary, or never delivered — with about $178,000,000 actually paid out.

A second SoCal case charged Oren David Shachar, 59, of Van Nuys; Abraham Shin, 66, of Corona; and Jeannie Choi, 57, of Torrance, in a 16-count indictment alleging conspiracy to commit health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and Anti-Kickback Statute violations. The indictment alleges they paid kickbacks to enroll non-terminally ill Medicare patients in hospice, used the identities of deceased beneficiaries, and created backdated records — generating roughly $27,700,000 in fraudulent Medicare claims. All remain charged and are presumed innocent.

The discipline here is the same one the law demands. These are charges. A “takedown” is a coordinated unsealing of indictments and complaints, not a wave of convictions; the $6,500,000,000 is the government’s alleged figure, and every defendant — doctor, executive, or foreign straw owner — is presumed innocent until a court says otherwise. Some cases will plead, some will go to trial, and some loss figures will shrink under scrutiny. Past takedowns have seen headline numbers revised as cases resolve.

But the structural facts are on the record and worth holding onto: federal health programs remain a multibillion-dollar target; the fraud is increasingly run from overseas through identity theft and shell companies; and the money that does get out the door buys Maseratis, jewelry, and real estate before anyone catches it. The government says its data tools blocked billions in payments before they were made — a claim worth tracking against how much it ultimately recovers. We’ll follow the convictions, the forfeitures, and whether the $182,000,000 seized this round holds up.

The 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown charged 455 people in connection with more than $6,500,000,000in alleged fraud against Medicare, Medicaid, and other taxpayer programs — the largest such action by defendant count in DOJ history, with a record state-Medicaid component and an unprecedented transnational reach. A separate Southern California batch added 10 more defendants and a nearly $270,000,000Medi-Cal case. The alleged schemes ran from relabeled wound grafts and 11-second cardiac tests to hospice fraud and a Russia-run catheter ring. The cases now move to court, where the allegations have to be proven. We’ll track the charges, the convictions, and where the seized money lands.

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