{"id":2690202,"date":"2026-10-23T12:09:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-fraud-scheme-used-homeless-elderly-people-to-steal-billions-from-taxpayers\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T12:09:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:09:59","slug":"california-fraud-scheme-used-homeless-elderly-people-to-steal-billions-from-taxpayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-fraud-scheme-used-homeless-elderly-people-to-steal-billions-from-taxpayers\/","title":{"rendered":"California Fraud Scheme Used Homeless, Elderly People to Steal Billions from Taxpayers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcalifornia-fraud-scheme-used-homeless-elderly-people-to-steal-billions-from-taxpayers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2690202&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Fraud is becoming so commonplace that the American taxpayer should just cut out the middleman and send the alleged criminals a check in the mail.<\/p>\n<p>While that word itself likely sparks images of shady Minnesota \u201clearing\u201d\u2018 centers, these schemes are proving to be more prevalent, as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-cdca\/pr\/la-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-15-defendants-charged-including-six-medical\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a> from the United States Attorney\u2019s Office for the Central District of California shows.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the office announced charges against 15 people \u2014 including six medical professionals \u2014 for health care fraud amounting to $2 billion in claims to government and private programs.<\/p>\n<p>A breakdown of the amount was given as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A massive $1.6 billion billed after luring people to California for a supposed substance abuse program;<\/li>\n<li>A sum of $134 million billed to Medicare, which resulted in patients suffering injuries from unnecessary atherectomy procedures;<\/li>\n<li>Another $138 million billed to Medicare for three different hospice fraud schemes, in which the patients were not even terminally ill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A fourth scheme to defraud Medi-Cal, the Medicaid program for the state, is said to amount to $270 million through claims submitted for \u201cbogus\u201d prescriptions, as the release put it.<\/p>\n<p>FBI Director Kash Patel made a statement on some of the arrests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday the FBI and our partners executed 8 arrests, with 7 additional defendants charged, after the subjects involved allegedly orchestrated a multi-year healthcare fraud scheme resulting in $1.8 billion in losses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe defendants \u2014 including medical professionals \u2014 made fraudulent claims to steal from taxpayer funded healthcare and insurance programs, including substance abuse treatment programs, hospice care, and Medicare programs in the Los Angeles area designed to help the most vulnerable,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>For the largest scheme, the release named a father-son duo, 39-year-old Nathan Young and 71-year-old David Young.<\/p>\n<p>Operating in Los Angeles, they were allegedly sending out \u201cbody brokers\u201d to find poor and homeless people, and enrolling them in insurance programs for which they were ineligible, subsequently filing claims for reimbursement.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants would lure patients with hotel rooms, plane rides, cars, and controlled substances, but once they arrived in California, only \u201cpremium\u201d patients whose insurance paid out high totals would get comfortable accommodations, while \u201cnon-premium\u201d ones would live in what was described as \u201ctrap houses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the hospice schemes,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/news\/local-news\/15-charged-in-massive-2-billion-l-a-health-care-fraud-crackdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KTLA<\/a> reported that 60-year-old Geoffrey Jimenez of Los Angeles would go to senior centers, allegedly approaching elderly people and offering free medical care while failing to disclose he was enrolling them in hospice.<\/p>\n<p>These seniors did not realize they had been enrolled until Medicare or a physician contacted them.<\/p>\n<p>In Patel\u2019s statement, he cited the work by the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, saying that \u201cstealing from American taxpayers will no longer be tolerated in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis FBI will continue to move aggressively with our Department of Justice to dismantle fraud networks stealing from hard working taxpayers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>This initiative was created via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2026\/03\/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unnerving to think most of this would still be going on if the administration had not stepped in.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s clearly a culture that\u2019s formed in pockets of the country such that your tax dollars are for the taking however these people can get them.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred 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While that word itself likely sparks images of shady Minnesota \u201clearing\u201d\u2018 centers, these schemes are proving to be more prevalent, as a news release from the United States Attorney\u2019s Office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2690203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-10-23T091903.406.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2690202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-10-23T091903.406.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2690202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2690203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2690202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2690202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2690202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}