WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges Thursday against 193 people, including 76 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, for their participation in a health care fraud scheme worth $2.75 billion.
The two-week investigation led to the arrests of individuals accused of illegally distributing millions of the stimulant Adderall pills, as well as a $176 million fraud scheme involving drug and alcohol addiction treatment, including billing the federal Medicaid program for inadequate or non-existent treatment, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
The raid also targeted telehealth schemes, indicting 36 defendants on charges of submitting false claims to the U.S. Medicare program totaling more than $1.1 billion.
“The Department of Justice will bring to justice criminals who defraud the public for profit, steal from taxpayer-funded programs and put people at risk,” Garland said at a news conference.
The government seized more than $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold and other assets in law enforcement operations across 32 federal districts.
In one case, federal prosecutors charged seven people associated with San Francisco-based telemedicine startup Done Global with illegally distributing Adderall, a stimulant used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
One of the company’s nurses is accused of prescribing 1.5 million Adderall pills with little to no interaction with patients, and the company’s founder and top doctor were indicted earlier this month.
U.S. authorities have said fraud may be involved in widely reported Adderall shortages in recent years.
A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation was led by the Department of Justice’s Criminal Fraud Section and involved the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Officials said they are increasingly relying on data analysis to spot fraud schemes that put patients at risk or harm the U.S. government.
