Doctors Among 15 Charged in Fraud Sweep

Group of medical students collaborating around a laptop — Photo: ARLOU_ANDREI / Shutterstock

Federal agents charged 15 people, including six medical professionals, in a scheme that bilked taxpayers and insurers out of more than $1.8 billion.

Story Snapshot

Fifteen defendants charged in a Los Angeles health care fraud takedown, including six medical professionals.
Prosecutors allege more than $1.8 billion in fraudulent claims across multiple separate schemes.
Eight defendants were arrested in predawn raids; seven more face charges without arrest.
The largest piece involves an alleged $1.6 billion fake substance-abuse-treatment operation, called the biggest of its kind the Justice Department has ever prosecuted.

Massive Fraud Sweep Hits Southern California

The Department of Justice announced charges against 15 defendants on October 22, 2026, accusing them of running health care fraud schemes that together produced more than $1.8 billion in fraudulent claims. Six of the accused are medical professionals, people patients trusted to act in their best interest. Federal agents arrested eight defendants during coordinated raids across Southern California, while seven more face charges without being taken into custody.

Six defendants are expected to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom. Two others will face proceedings in Texas. This is not some small-time scam. It is one of the largest health care fraud cases ever brought out of Southern California, and it shows once again how far some people will go to loot the system taxpayers and insurers fund.

Fake Rehab Scheme Tops $1.6 Billion

The biggest single piece of the case involves brothers Nathan and David Young, who prosecutors say ran a substance-abuse-treatment fraud operation worth roughly $1.6 billion. The Justice Department calls it the largest scheme of its kind the department has ever prosecuted. Separate allegations target a roughly $135 million atherectomy scheme, hospice fraud topping $140 million, prescription fraud, and genetic-testing kickbacks involving other named defendants.

In the atherectomy case, prosecutors allege Hany Malek falsely posed as a doctor and diagnosed patients with arterial disease they did not actually have. He then allegedly pushed them toward invasive surgical procedures they did not need, alongside co-defendant Harold Tabaie. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said investigators used data analysis to flag some of the suspicious billing patterns that led to these charges.

Charges Are Allegations, Not Convictions

Every defendant named in this case is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The Justice Department’s announcement describes charges and allegations, not jury verdicts or guilty pleas. Still, the sheer scale of the alleged conduct, patients allegedly steered into unneeded surgeries, addicts allegedly funneled through sham treatment programs, deserves serious attention from every taxpayer who foots the bill for federal health programs.

This case lands inside a much bigger enforcement push. The Justice Department reported a record $6.8 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments in fiscal year 2025, with health care accounting for about 83 percent of that total, roughly $5.7 billion. A separate national takedown last year charged 324 defendants in schemes totaling more than $14.6 billion in intended losses. The Trump administration’s Justice Department has leaned harder on data analytics to catch fraud before it balloons further, a trend conservatives have long demanded from a bureaucracy too often accused of waste and blind oversight.

Federal authorities charge 15 in massive $1.8B Southern California medical fraud sweep
15 people, including a cardiothoracic surgeon face charges tied to sham rehab centers, hospice fraud, kickbacks

This is the reason California passed Stop Nick Shirley Act to protect fraudsters

— Anonymous Me (@TruthWinsMe) October 23, 2026

For years, conservatives have warned that bloated federal health programs are a magnet for grifters who exploit weak oversight and taxpayer-funded safety nets. This case is a reminder that fraud on this scale does not happen in a vacuum. It happens when government programs grow too large to properly police themselves. Holding these defendants accountable, while respecting their right to due process, is exactly the kind of law-and-order accountability voters expect from this administration.