Dozens of people in South Florida are among the 601 charged nationwide in what Attorney General Jeff Sessions is calling the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action.
Authorities announced Thursday that 124 South Florida defendants are facing various fraud charges involving more than $337 million in false billings.
"Today’s takedown sends a clear message that those who steal our tax dollars and divert money from much needed government programs to line their own pockets will be brought to justice," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Benjamin Greenberg said in a statement.
In one case, the owner, medical director and two employees of a local sober living facility are accused of illegally recruiting patients, paying kickbacks and defrauding health care benefit programs for widespread fraudulent urine testing. The facility submitted more than $106 million in claims for substance abuse treatment services, authorities said.
Sessions said nationwide, the fraud schemes involved more than $2 billion in false billings. Of the 601 facing charges, 162 prescribed and distributed opioids and other narcotics.
"Much of this fraud is related to our ongoing opioid crisis, which is tremendously dangerous for America. It's the deadliest drug epidemic in the history of this country," Sessions said at a news conference Thursday. "We've never seen anything like it."
