WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. prosecutors have charged more than 400 people with taking part in health care fraud and opioid scams that totaled $1.3 billion in false billing.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the charges Thursday. Officials say those charged include more than 120 people involved in prescribing and distributing narcotics. In prepared remarks, Sessions calls it the "largest health care fraud takedown operation in American history."
RELATED: Gov. Scott fights stiffer penalties for fighting the opioid epidemic.
Among those charged are six Michigan doctors accused of a scheme to prescribe unnecessary opioids. A Florida rehab facility is alleged to have recruited addicts with gift cards and visits to strip clubs, leading to $58 million in false treatments and tests.
Sessions says nearly 300 health care providers are being suspended or banned from participating in federal health care programs.
Statement from the Department of Justice concerning the investigation in Florida:
For the Strike Force locations, in the Southern District of Florida, a total of 77 defendants were charged with offenses relating to their participation in various fraud schemes involving over $141 million in false billings for services including home health care, mental health services and pharmacy fraud. In one case, the owner and operator of a purported addiction treatment center and home for recovering addicts and one other individual were charged in a scheme involving the submission of over $58 million in fraudulent medical insurance claims for purported drug treatment services. The allegations include actively recruiting addicted patients to move to South Florida so that the co-conspirators could bill insurance companies for fraudulent treatment and testing, in return for which, the co-conspirators offered kickbacks to patients in the form of gift cards, free airline travel, trips to casinos and strip clubs, and drugs.
National #HealthCareFraud Takedown Results in Charges Against >412 Individuals Responsible for $1.3B in Fraud Losses https://t.co/7eWXA2zNF7pic.twitter.com/xsNPrCZNyQ
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) July 13, 2017
