The Department of Justice charged 455 defendants on June 23, 2026, in the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, a coordinated enforcement action targeting health care fraud schemes involving over $6.5 billion in alleged false claims, the largest such operation in the agency’s history.
Among the 455 charged were 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals, marking a significant escalation in the prosecution of medical providers themselves rather than just billing schemes. The takedown spanned 56 federal districts and 45 states and territories, with an unprecedented 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units participating—more than any previous takedown, according to the DOJ.
The schemes prosecuted ranged widely in scope and method. Charges included 11 defendants across six districts in connection with billions of dollars in fraudulent claims for amniotic wound allografts, where a company allegedly marked up tissue products by 2,000% and paid illegal kickbacks of approximately 40% to marketers and medical providers. In one case, a nurse practitioner in the Southern District of Texas was charged for a $906 million scheme in which she applied medically unnecessary allografts and billed Medicare more than $1 million per patient on average, using proceeds to purchase high-end vehicles and fund a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines.
Medicaid fraud represented the largest category of charges. Of the 455 defendants, 295 were charged with Medicaid-related schemes involving over $518 million in alleged false claims—the largest number of Medicaid fraud defendants and losses ever charged by the DOJ, according to the agency. These schemes targeted vulnerable populations, including homeless individuals offered illegal bribes in the form of hotel stays in exchange for using their Medicaid numbers to bill for unnecessary crisis stabilization services, and Native Americans struggling with substance abuse who were billed for behavioral services never provided.
Opioid diversion formed another major component. Thirty-six defendants, including 28 licensed medical professionals, were charged in connection with the illegal distribution of prescription opioids and other controlled substances that resulted in patient harm. In one case, three defendants in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania operated a voicemail refill line allowing patients to request refills of Schedule II controlled substances without patient interaction, despite knowing that some patients using the line had suffered drug overdoses and died.
The takedown showcased advanced data analytics in fraud detection. The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Fusion Center identified a spike in Medicare payments for allografts, leading prosecutors to uncover the kickback schemes before CMS realigned payment rates. In another case involving $67 million in fraudulent Illinois Medicaid claims for behavioral health services, the Financial Intelligence Review Team detected claims for 500 or more hours of counseling per day—impossible given the number of providers on staff—and identified patients hospitalized elsewhere on days they were allegedly receiving services, leading to an arrest within seven months.
The DOJ announced the seizure of over $182 million in cash, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and other assets as proceeds of the alleged schemes. One defendant’s seized assets included a $594,000 Ferrari 296 GTS, an $865,000 custom Bulgari necklace, and $1 million in other luxury jewelry.
The 2026 takedown surpassed the previous year’s enforcement action. In the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown announced June 30, 2025, the DOJ charged 324 defendants in connection with over $14.6 billion in alleged fraud, according to the Department of Justice. While the 2026 takedown charged more defendants, the alleged fraud amount was lower, reflecting a shift toward prosecuting more individual actors rather than larger transnational schemes.
Sources
- Department of Justice — official press release announcing the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, including defendant counts, dollar amounts, scheme descriptions, asset seizures, and geographic scope
- HHS Office of Inspector General — confirmation of Medicaid fraud statistics and takedown scale
- Eye on Enforcement — reporting on Medicaid fraud defendants and losses as the largest in DOJ history
- Barnes & Thornburg — analysis of the takedown as the largest whole-of-government health care fraud operation in the department’s history
