Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / California Fraudsters Profit in End Of Life Hospice Scam

Transcript

California Fraudsters Profit in End Of Life Hospice Scam · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I have never had any knowledge of epstein abuse of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane, and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: never visited his private hiland.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Good Friday morning.
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: Nice to have you with us on the forty seven
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Morning Update, and we've got one big story for you.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: This involves a massive fraud.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: California forced to dismantle more than two hundred and sixty
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: seven million in hospice fraud ring and Operation Skip Chase.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: The shocking part is Democrats are claiming now in California
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: they've been fighting fraud all along, and we expose exactly.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: How they're lying to you about it.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Now, before we get to that, I want to tell
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: you about my good friends at Patriot Mobile and the
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: incredible work they do with every sale phone bill that
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: you pay. America is entering me two hundred and fiftieth year,
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: and the direction of this country is being decided right
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: now in our culture and our economy, and who we
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: choose is support matters more than ever. Most wireless companies
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: don't care who you are or what you believe. They
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: just want your money. Patriot Mobile, they're different. For more
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: than twelve years, they've stood with Americans who believe freedom
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: is worth defending, funding the Christian Conservative movement when others
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: stay silent. That's what they do. So here's the deal.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: You don't have to give up quality or service when
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: you switch to Patriot Mobile. They deliver premium priority access
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: on all three major US networks, so you'll get the
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: same or better coverage than you have today. Think switching
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: as a hassle, It isn't anymore in twenty twenty six.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: You keep your number, keep your phone, or upgrade, and
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: their one hundred percent US based support team can activate
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: you in minutes, still paying off a device. Patriot Mobile
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: even offers a contract buyout. This is a defining year.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: We must work together to save our country. So go
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: to Patriotmobile dot com slash ben forty seven or call
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: ninety seven to Patriot and if you use the promo
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: code ben forty seven, you'll get a free month of service.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: That's Patriotmobile dot com slash ben forty seven or nine
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: seven to two Patriot and switch today. It's the forty
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: seven Morning Update and it starts right now.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Story number one.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: The easiest way I can describe this next story is well,
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: at least it's a big start for the president of
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: United States of America. He promised that he was going
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: to go after waste, fraud and abuse, and he was
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: going to make sure the government was doing everything they
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: could to make sure your tax dollars weren't being stolen. Well,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: now we're gonna move to California, where officials there have
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: just announced a major crackdown on healthcare fraud. They have
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: dismantled what has been described as a massive two hundred
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: and sixty seven million dollar hospice scam they're now calling
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: the operation Skip Trace. Authorities have also charged twenty one
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: individuals in connection with this scheme. Several arrests have already
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: been made, and many more are actually expected now. According
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: to investigators, this was not a small time operation. It
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: was a highly organized fraud ring that exploited California's medical system.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: That's the state's medicaid program. How do they do it?
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: It's pretty simple. They were billing for hospice services that
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: were never actually provided to anyone. In fact, officials say
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: not a single legitimate hospice service was ever delivered to anyone,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: despite millions of dollars in claims and your tax dollars
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: being stolen. The scheme worked with purchasing stolen personal information,
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: in some cases from the dark web. Then they would
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: use those identities to enroll fake patients into medical From there,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: the suspects used in network, as they described it at
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: the press conference, of at least fourteen different hospice companies,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: often controlled by so called straw owners. They would then
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: submit fraudulent claims and collect your tax dollars. Fox eleven,
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Los Angeles, describing it this.
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: Way, sometimes the people who need care the most end
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: up in a system that needs watching too. State officials
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: are now promising to continue their crackdown on hospice fraud.
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: Investigation could raise bigger questions about trust, money and who
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: profits at the end of life. The crackdowns now zeroing
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: in a scheme has drained millions from medical. Fox eleven's
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: Nick Garsias in downtown LA, where state leaders has stolen
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: identities helped fuel this case.
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: Work was seeing well. Attorney General rab Bonta was here
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: today to announce Operation Skip Trace, which happened yesterday and
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: targeted twenty one suspects across ten different locations right here
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: in southern California. Those suspects accused of defrauding the state
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: of two hundred and sixty seven million dollars. A massive
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: takedown of a complex fraud ring which investigators say took
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: advantage of state money intended for hospice care.
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: This was a brazen, calculated criminal scheme that exploited the
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: medical system, stole from the State of California and Medicaid,
• 5:35
  Speaker 7: and prevented services and care from going to sick individuals
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: who actually need it.
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: The suspects defrauded the state two hundred and sixty seven
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: million dollars by using stolen identities to.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Enroll in hospice.
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: Five have been arrested so far. State officials say they're
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: increasing protections. We are using a faster and more secure
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: online process, and we're adding stronger checks to prevent fake
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: applications or stolen identities from getting into the system. This
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: operation comes as the federal government has started to crack
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: down on hospice fraud. US Attorney Bill A. Saley on
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: Good Day LA Thursday Morning.
• 6:16
  Speaker 8: Fraud hasn't always been a priority of the Department of Justice,
• 6:18
  Speaker 8: particularly fraud against taxpayers. That is changing, because when you
• 6:22
  Speaker 8: defraud these programs, not only are fraudsters getting away with
• 6:25
  Speaker 8: our money, it's taking money away from people really need it.
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: But Attorney General Bonta says fraud has long been a
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: priority for California's Department of Justice.
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: Well, healthcare fraud might be President Trump's shiny new political
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: talking point. California DOJ has been going after health care
• 6:46
  Speaker 7: fraud since nineteen seventy nine.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: By the way, I love how Democrats in California, as
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: you just heard there saying, well, we've been on top
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: of this. How was this uncovered? It wasn't because of
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: their work. It was because of undercover individuals, literally citizen
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: journalists who started looking and exposing all of the fraud.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: And now California is wanting you to believe that they've
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: been on top of the issue all along.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: It's just not the case.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Now law enforcement did execute search warrants across multiple locations
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: in southern California. We now know they sees cash, they
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: sees firearms, and evidence tied to the operation. Prosecutors have
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: hit the defendance with a range of serious charges, including
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: healthcare fraud and any theft, conspiracy, and money laundering. Crimes
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: that could carry significant prison time if they're convicted. By
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: the way, to be clear, there's no indication that California
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: is actually getting serious about really cracking down on this.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: They were shamed into doing their job. Now, the state officials,
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: one that you just heard there says this case highlights
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: a growing national problem. So they want you to believe
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: that what you're witnessing in California is while happening where
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: you live, and even if you're at a conservative state
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: that cracks down on this stuff, they're telling you, no, no,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: there must be fraud there.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: We're not the only ones that have an issue.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: They also said they're sending a clear message those who
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: exploit programs meant for the sick and vulnerable and still
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: from taxpayers will be aggressively pursued and held accountable. Now,
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: there's also no indication that California is actually ready to
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: do that. So the California Attorney General Rob Banta and
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: the Department of Health Services there, they're now saying that
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: you should be thanking them for taking down the staggering
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: two hundred and sixty seven million dollar health care fraud ring.
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: The only reason why this happened is because you had
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: conservatives online that publicly shamed them into doing their job.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: The operation, which involved twenty one suspects so far, fourteen
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: fraudulent companies targeting the state's medical system by billing for
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: hospice services that were never rendered to anyone. That is
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: the story that everyone should be angry about. Yeah, they've
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: been charged, but it wasn't like California was actually leading
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: the way. What's also interesting about these twenty one suspects
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: have been charged is the investigation has now hit into
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: one hundred and thirty associated shell companies as well. Now
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: it's unclear exactly how much to the two hundred and
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: sixty seven million is defrauded funds and how much of
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: it can actually be recovered. Manta noted that only about
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: thirty million has been retrieved so far, So we're missing
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: two hundred and thirty seven million. So when he says
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: we're on top of it, ask yourself, if that's true,
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: then where's the other two hundred and thirty plus million
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: dollars that you promised?
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: LA Good Day that is one of the leading morning
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: shows in LA. They went on the air and they
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: explained it to their audience a little bit differently.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Listen carefully.
• 9:55
  Speaker 9: These are cracking down on what they call a massive
• 9:58
  Speaker 9: healthcare fraud scheme. Right here in California.
• 10:01
  Speaker 10: Eight people are now under arrest, accused of running sham
• 10:04
  Speaker 10: hospice operations that allegedly stole more than fifty million dollars
• 10:08
  Speaker 10: from Medicare. The takedown, dubbed Operation Never Say Die, could
• 10:12
  Speaker 10: signal a broader push to target fraud across the region.
• 10:16
  Speaker 11: Joining us now is US Attorney.
• 10:18
  Speaker 10: Bill a Sale to break down the case, what it
• 10:19
  Speaker 10: means for taxpayers also the integrity of our healthcare system.
• 10:24
  Speaker 11: Thank you so much for being here this morning, Thanks
• 10:26
  Speaker 11: for having me. This is a big operation.
• 10:28
  Speaker 12: It is big.
• 10:29
  Speaker 8: It was one of the first operations under the Vice
• 10:31
  Speaker 8: President's new Task Force on Fraud.
• 10:34
  Speaker 12: We did in coordination with the Vice President.
• 10:36
  Speaker 8: And of course doctor Oz who oversees Medicare program. And
• 10:40
  Speaker 8: we're out there early and we took down We announced
• 10:43
  Speaker 8: fifteen separate cases, We arrested eight people, and again almost
• 10:47
  Speaker 8: sixty million dollars in fraud just in one day.
• 10:49
  Speaker 9: So explain how this hospice fraud worked. I mean, these
• 10:54
  Speaker 9: little communities are sort of working together to try to
• 10:56
  Speaker 9: try to scam the system.
• 10:58
  Speaker 8: Yeah, A lot of these are repeat fraud and what
• 11:01
  Speaker 8: happens is they take advantage of vulnerabilities in our systems.
• 11:04
  Speaker 8: So it starts with getting a hospice license through the
• 11:06
  Speaker 8: state of California, and to be honest, California did not
• 11:09
  Speaker 8: have good systems in place. They still don't for vetting
• 11:12
  Speaker 8: and checking to make sure these are legitimate operators. Once
• 11:15
  Speaker 8: they have that hospice license, they then have the ability
• 11:18
  Speaker 8: to build medicare.
• 11:19
  Speaker 12: And that's what they were doing. They were submitting fraudulent names.
• 11:22
  Speaker 8: Or in some cases they are real people's names, but
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: they weren't really in hospice.
• 11:26
  Speaker 12: They were not dying.
• 11:27
  Speaker 8: That's why the operator they die and billing millions and
• 11:30
  Speaker 8: millions of dollars over.
• 11:32
  Speaker 12: A few years.
• 11:32
  Speaker 11: And were these people getting kickbacks then.
• 11:34
  Speaker 12: Some were, some weren't.
• 11:36
  Speaker 8: Yes, And again on average they got about five or
• 11:38
  Speaker 8: six thousand dollars per name per month, and then they
• 11:41
  Speaker 8: would kick back maybe three hundred dollars to the patients themselves.
• 11:45
  Speaker 8: But the fraudsters, of course, are always going to want
• 11:47
  Speaker 8: to keep most of the money.
• 11:48
  Speaker 11: How long had this been going on?
• 11:50
  Speaker 12: This has been going on for years.
• 11:51
  Speaker 8: We've really seen explosion uptake after COVID, there was a
• 11:54
  Speaker 8: lot more money put into systems, put into PPP, and
• 11:58
  Speaker 8: that's what I think fraudsters realize the amount of money
• 12:00
  Speaker 8: that's available in these government accounts. But you know, the
• 12:03
  Speaker 8: message you want to get across is fraud hasn't always
• 12:06
  Speaker 8: been a priority of the Department of Justice, particularly fraud
• 12:08
  Speaker 8: against taxpayers. That is changing because when you defraud these programs,
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: not only are fraudsters getting away with our money, it's
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: taking money away from people really need it. It's draining
• 12:18
  Speaker 8: the healthcare system of important money that's needed for people
• 12:21
  Speaker 8: who actually need it. And that's really the big message here.
• 12:25
  Speaker 9: We do have the response from Governor Newsom and also
• 12:28
  Speaker 9: ag Rob Bonta responded to this. You guys been going
• 12:31
  Speaker 9: kind of back and forth online, and part of it
• 12:33
  Speaker 9: is what they're saying is that it's the federal government
• 12:36
  Speaker 9: that oversees medicare, it's not us. They also are saying, look,
• 12:41
  Speaker 9: we've been part of this partnership to crack down on
• 12:44
  Speaker 9: this fraud in medicare. We've made huge strides in all
• 12:48
  Speaker 9: of this.
• 12:48
  Speaker 12: What do you have to say, Yeah, a couple of
• 12:49
  Speaker 12: things going on here.
• 12:50
  Speaker 8: At number one, the federal government's basically the piggybank. It's
• 12:53
  Speaker 8: the federal government provides most of the money that goes
• 12:55
  Speaker 8: to these programs. However, they're administered by the states. It's
• 12:58
  Speaker 8: the state of California that's responsible for hospice. California license
• 13:02
  Speaker 8: every single hospice. They're supposed to be vetting and checking.
• 13:05
  Speaker 8: And our criticism of the State of California is that
• 13:07
  Speaker 8: they don't have sufficient measures in place to prevent and
• 13:10
  Speaker 8: detect fraud. In the first instance, the money's going out
• 13:13
  Speaker 8: the door, and then they're coming to us and saying,
• 13:15
  Speaker 8: all this fraud occurred, help us get the bad guys.
• 13:17
  Speaker 12: We don't want to pay and chase. We want to
• 13:19
  Speaker 12: stop the fraud from happening.
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: And the first one that's kind of interesting is that
• 13:23
  Speaker 9: no one denies that this is taking place. So even
• 13:26
  Speaker 9: though they're saying we're fighting at also everybody admits that
• 13:31
  Speaker 9: this is a big deal.
• 13:33
  Speaker 8: It's a massive deal. I think the state does dispute
• 13:36
  Speaker 8: the extent how much it is. We think it's potentially
• 13:38
  Speaker 8: in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But again, the
• 13:42
  Speaker 8: focus has always been to push money out the door.
• 13:44
  Speaker 8: I wasn't Sacramento. I was a legislator up there. They
• 13:46
  Speaker 8: want to get as much money out the door as possible.
• 13:48
  Speaker 8: That's how they measure success. We want to change that mindset.
• 13:52
  Speaker 8: We want to focus on making sure that the fraudsters
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: never get the money in the first place, so we're
• 13:56
  Speaker 8: not having to chase them down, arrest them and try
• 13:59
  Speaker 8: to recover money after the fact.
• 14:00
  Speaker 11: Oh yeah, what happens to all that money now?
• 14:02
  Speaker 12: Well, a lot of it gets spent. Honestly, a lot
• 14:04
  Speaker 12: of it fraud.
• 14:05
  Speaker 11: They are very luxury cars and homes.
• 14:08
  Speaker 8: Hotels, of vacations, bags. So we try to recover as
• 14:12
  Speaker 8: much of it as we can. We will seize properties,
• 14:14
  Speaker 8: we will seize cars, we will seize bank accounts, but frankly,
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: a lot of it gets spent, and a lot of
• 14:18
  Speaker 8: these fraudsters are also tied to international organizations and the
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: money goes out the countries.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Let's just pause there, and I want you to just
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: think about what you just heard there on the local
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Fox affiliate. And they're doing a better job on Good
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: Day LA talking about this. Then the national media is
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: they're also telling you the truth that the money is
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: going overseas, and they're also telling you the truth that
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: democrats can say how they want to this is somehow
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: a federal problem instead of a local problem and the
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: way that they described it. But they're also saying, like,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: let's be clear, they're the ones that are over all
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: of this, and that clearly is part of the hypocrisy here.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Democrats did not care that this fraud was taking place.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: They knew about it. There were people, multiple people that
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: had alerted them of what they saw was clearly fraud,
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: and they looked the other way. Why because they don't
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: care if people are stealing from you, the taxpayer. They
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: don't care what's happening here as long as they're getting
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: a little bit of a kickback. We saw the kickbacks
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: by the way Minnesota, where many of these fraud sers
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: were giving political donations to you guessed it, the Democrats
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: that were in charge at the local, state and the
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: national level. Now, this much fraud, there were massive signs.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: Everyone knew there were signs, and they didn't care. The
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: question we should be asking now is why and what
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: did they know, when did they know it? And how
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: much are they hiding from all of us?
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listen listening to the forty seven Morning
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Update with Ben Ferguson Please make sure you hit subscribe
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: wherever you're listening to this podcast right now and for
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow