11 charged in Russia-based plan to defraud US health care of $10.6 bn

New York: US federal prosecutors charged 11 people Friday in a Russia based scheme to bilk Medicare the American health insurance program for the e...

New York: US federal prosecutors charged 11 people Friday in a Russia-based scheme to bilk Medicare -- the American health insurance program for the elderly and disabled -- out of $10.6 billion through fraudulent billing for expensive medical equipment.

The "transnational criminal organization" orchestrated a "multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme" that included purchasing dozens of medical equipment companies from prior legitimate owners to perpetrate the fraud, according to the indictment dated June 18.

More than a million Medicare recipients had their personal information stolen and used by the defendants to file for billions of dollars in claims from Medicare and its supplemental insurers, prosecutors said in the filing.

The claims were filed through medical equipment providers that the group had purchased, but no equipment was ever sent out for the payments.

Medicare paid "approximately $41 million as a result of the fraudulent submissions" and supplemental insurers are estimated to have paid out $900 million more between 2022 and 2024, prosecutors wrote.