US Defers $1.3 Billion California Medicaid Funds as Prosecutor Warns Officials Could Face Charges
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 13
US Defers $1.3 Billion California Medicaid Funds as Prosecutor Warns Officials Could Face Charges
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 13
Summary
$1.3 billion in federal Medicaid funding to California was deferred in May after the administration cited oversight failures and suspected fraud in state-run programs.
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Southern California, said investigators are now examining whether state officials enabled the schemes and would charge anyone found to have benefited or covered them up.
Federal cases already include a $45 million Medicare Botox scam in Los Angeles, where a doctor was convicted and prosecutors expect to recover about $20 million in assets.
Essayli blamed weak vetting of medical licenses and said California had become a "fraudster's paradise," while the Trump administration's anti-fraud task force under JD Vance expands probes into healthcare and childcare rings.