Healthy patients allegedly lured into $50M hospice scam as feds expose cash kickbacks and fake care

A sweeping federal takedown in Los Angeles has exposed what prosecutors say is a brazen, multimillion-dollar scheme that turned end-of-life care into a cash grab, allegedly using people who weren’t even dying to rip off taxpayers out of more than $50 million. In another case, a Covina couple, a nurse and a self-described psychologist allegedly pulled in more than $4 million from Medicare and spent it on mortgages, international travel, restaurants and personal bills. Beyond hospice fraud, authorities say the takedown uncovered a $19 million scheme targeting a labor union’s health plan that the defendants allegedly billed for fake or unnecessary chiropractic and therapy services and even fabricated patient records.