DOJ Charges 15, Including Six Medical Professionals, in $1.8 Billion Los Angeles Health Care Fraud Takedown

Federal agents carried out predawn arrests across Southern California on Thursday as the Justice Department announced charges against 15 people, including six medical professionals, in health care fraud schemes that it says produced more than $1.8 billion in fraudulent claims to government and private insurance programs.

The cases include what the department called the largest sober home fraud scheme it has ever prosecuted, a $1.6 billion operation allegedly built on sham addiction treatment. Eight defendants were arrested Thursday, according to the Justice Department.

"Our message is simple: if you steal health care dollars from the American taxpayer or abuse your position to harm patients, we are coming for you – and the data will lead us to wherever you are," said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the department's National Fraud Enforcement Division.

The Alleged $1.6 Billion Sober Home Scheme

Prosecutors allege that Nathan Young, 39, and his father, David Young, 71, both of Los Angeles, controlled dozens of purported substance abuse treatment companies and used paid recruiters, known as "body brokers," to bring patients from around the country to Southern California, the Justice Department said. Two alleged brokers from Greenville, Texas, Honey Phipps, 42, and Cody Phipps, 36, were also charged.

According to the indictment as described by the department, the defendants lured people with free flights, cash, apartments, hotel stays, cars, gift cards and drugs, then billed private insurers for treatment that largely was not provided. Fox News reported that prosecutors allege the Youngs recycled patients through their facilities to keep billing and told staff to sedate patients who tried to leave.

Health Care Fraud Charges Against a Surgeon

In a separate case, Dr. Harold Tabaie, 78, an Anaheim cardiothoracic surgeon, and his business partner Hany Malek, 61, a Tarzana chiropractor, are charged in an alleged $134 million scheme to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary atherectomies, invasive procedures that use a bladed catheter to clear plaque from arteries, according to the Justice Department.

Prosecutors allege Malek posed as a medical doctor to diagnose patients with arterial disease they did not have, and that Tabaie then performed the procedures, sometimes repeatedly, Fox News reported. Officials said several patients suffered extreme pain. The department said the scheme was detected through data analytics.

Other defendants are charged in three hospice fraud schemes that allegedly billed Medicare more than $138 million for patients who were not terminally ill. Another defendant was indicted in an alleged $270 million scheme to defraud Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, with bogus prescriptions, the department said.

"Under President Trump's leadership with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, stealing from American taxpayers will no longer be tolerated in this country," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.

"It is especially egregious when doctors and other health care professionals, who pledged to do no harm, resort to petty greed and criminality," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California.

The FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration took part in the investigations.

Charges are allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Image: APK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Hold Everyone Accountable.

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, "Los Angeles Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 15 Defendants, Including 6 Medical Professionals" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/los-angeles-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-charges-against-15-defendants-including-6 ; Fox News, "Federal authorities charge 15 in massive $1.8B Southern California medical fraud sweep" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://www.foxnews.com/us/federal-authorities-charge-15-massive-1-8b-southern-california-medical-fraud-sweep