Federal authorities have arrested eight individuals, including doctors and nurses, in connection with a Southern California health care fraud investigation involving roughly $50 million in alleged fraudulent claims.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli, joined by representatives from the FBI and Dr. Mehmet Oz of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said authorities executed search and arrest warrants across the region from Covina to Lakewood, resulting in eight arrests.
Oz said during a news conference that federal officials “took out” 221 hospices in the last 10 weeks.
Why It Matters
The arrests come amid ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to combat alleged fraud in Medicare and other government health programs, which authorities say can increase costs for taxpayers and undermine confidence in the system. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to create an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance. Federal prosecutors and regulators have stepped up enforcement actions targeting billing schemes, hospice fraud and related abuses, particularly in areas where coordinated investigations have identified similar patterns.
What To Know
Federal prosecutors said the cases involve multiple defendants accused of participating in separate schemes to defraud Medicare and private insurers through hospice and medical billing fraud.
The Department of Justice said in a press release that Lolita Beronilla Minerd, a licensed vocational nurse, allegedly operated Topanga Hospice Care Inc. and submitted more than $9 million in false Medicare claims for patients who were not terminally ill while paying kickbacks to recruiters and beneficiaries.
Gladwin Gill and his wife, Amelou Gill, are accused of running a Glendale hospice that billed more than $5 million in fraudulent claims and paid illegal referral kickbacks, with proceeds used for personal expenses, the DOJ said.
“This particular hospice submitted more than $5.2 million in fraudulent claims, and Medicare actually paid out more than $4 million,” Essayli said.
Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, and Adolfo Catbagan are alleged to have operated multiple fraudulent hospice facilities, the DOJ said. The defendants are said to have submitted millions is false claims to Medicare for beneficiaries who were not terminally ill and the physicians supposedly providing hospice services did not treat the patients.
Evelyn Tindimobuna is accused of submitting fraudulent hospice claims through a hospice company while paying marketers for patient referrals, while Ivan Verne Lauritzen is accused of forging physician signatures and submitting improper Medicare claims as part of a hospice billing scheme, the DOJ said.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said California has taken an aggressive approach to addressing hospice fraud, pointing to a 2021 law that halted the issuance of new hospice licenses amid growing concerns about abuses in the sector. The office added that state regulators have since revoked more than 280 hospice licenses over a two-year period, while roughly 300 additional providers remain under investigation as part of ongoing enforcement efforts, per the Associated Press.
In Minnesota, federal agents carried out a large-scale enforcement operation in late 2025 that authorities said was aimed at alleged fraud in child care and social service programs linked to some Somali-run businesses, prompting protests and increased tensions in the state’s largest Somali communities. The surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers drew criticism from local leaders and civil rights advocates, who said the actions unfairly targeted immigrant neighborhoods and created fear among residents, many of whom are U.S. citizens. The operation was quickly overshadowed after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens.
What People Are Saying
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement to the press. “We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for criminals who defraud American taxpayers. The defendants arrested this morning who are charged with stealing millions of dollars of health care benefits got caught and now face years in federal prison.”
Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement: “The Southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of health care fraud. The United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to health care fraud at the expense of all American taxpayers, whose benefits decrease as premiums, co-payments and taxes grow. Our aim is to reverse that trend with ‘Operation Never Say Die’ and others like it.”
Inspector General T. March Bell of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), said in a statement: “The defendants charged today allegedly turned hospice care into a cash producing operation, resulting in more than $50 million in losses to taxpayers. The magnitude of the losses underscores a deliberate abuse of the authority and trust afforded to health care providers.”
Governor Gavin Newsom wrote in a post on X: “Glad the federal government is finally stepping up to do their part.”
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