The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against 455 individuals following a two-week nationwide crackdown on healthcare fraud, uncovering schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims from insurers.
The crackdown, which spanned 45 US states and territories, was announced on Tuesday, June 23, by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who called it “the greatest combined federal and state effort combating health care fraud in history.”
A nurse in Texas was charged with billing Medicare for $1 million for each patient to whom she applied unnecessary tissue grafts, the feds alleged.
Marizel Yukee, 49, of Las Vegas, was charged with fraudulently billing $906 million in claims for which she was paid $297 million. Marizel Yukee
She allegedly funneled the stolen funds to buy posh cars, real estate, jewelry, and even built a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines, prosecutors claimed. The $865,000 custom Bulgari necklace.
When she was arrested, the feds seized $30 million from her bank accounts, $467,000 in cash, a $594,000 Ferrari 296 GTS, seven other luxury vehicles, an $865,000 custom Bulgari necklace, and another million worth of jewelry, officials claimed. Marizel Yukee and and her husband Rodelson Yukee shopping at David Yurman in Las Vegas.
Separately, three Florida nurses were busted for a $118 million tissue graft scheme. Leigh Tesar allegedly spent $215,000 on a luxury box suite at the Raymond James Stadium, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play, according to a criminal indictment.
She also allegedly spent $400,000 on fine art, according to the court papers.
The vice president of sales at a company that sold bioengineered skin substitutes allegedly carried out an illegal kickback scheme from 2021 to 2024, paying medical providers to push their product, prosecutors claim.
Brian Rowan, 47, of Las Vegas, made over $24 million at the company and bought multimillion-dollar homes, million-dollar life insurance policies, and high-end watches and cars, including a $135,000 Maserati, the feds alleged. Medical sales vice president Brian Rowan allegedly spent the stolen cash on a Ferrari 488 Spider convertible.
The Arizona-based company was peddling amniotic wound grafts, which it purchased from tissue banks and then sold at a 2,000% markup — or $1,450 per square centimeter, the feds said, which comes out to $224.75 per square inch.
Rowan and other execs used 40% of their profits to pay out kickbacks, officials alleged.
The scheme targeted hospice patients for the skin grafts, which would be applied without the consultation of their doctors, without protecting against infections, and sometimes applying them to superficial wounds that didn’t require the grafts or to larger areas than needed, prosecutors claimed.
In total, he and his co-conspirators billed $1.2 billion for unnecessary allografts and were ultimately paid $614 million, the feds allege.
Two others, Jeffrey King and Alexandra Gehrke, have previously been sentenced to 15.5 years and 14 years, respectively, behind bars for their roles in this scheme, which netted them $97 million in cash, $21 million in life insurance policies, and four luxury cars, including a Ferrari 488 Spider convertible and three top-end Mercedes vehicles, the feds alleged.
One alleged fraudster in Illinois billed Medicaid for behavioral health services for hundreds of hours a day — despite the fact he didn’t have enough staff to justify it, the feds alleged.
Daniel Robinson, 51, of Palos Park, Illinois, allegedly billed for $67 million for counseling and therapy services that wouldn’t have been realistic even if all of the providers at his company, ODA Solutions Inc., worked 24 hours a day, according to a complaint. Daniel Robinson,
His total claims were $92 million, and he received $75 million, according to the docs.
The money was diverted toward $44 million in investment accounts, $10 million to open a luxury car dealership, $4 million to buy real estate and fund home renovations, court papers allege. Robinson’s 2020 Bentley Continental GT V8.
He also allegedly owned a yacht named Butt Nekkid that was docked in Chicago, court papers show. Robinson’s boat, the Butt Nekkid.
A Texas doctor allegedly carried out an $89 million medical fraud scheme that ended with a student athlete’s death, the feds alleged.
Dr. Jason Finkelstein, 53, of Fort Worth, Texas, allegedly tested the hearts of student athletes at campuses around the country, submitting $89 million in claims under his two companies, Cardiovascular Testing Services PA and Cardiovascular Healthcare Associates PA, the feds claimed.
Yet Finkelstein made up bogus conditions to justify the cardiac testing of the students and signed off on the results after only reviewing them for seconds, prosecutors claimed.
In October 2024, he allegedly claimed one student’s results were “normal” even though the tests showed the student potentially had heart problems.
The student died 24 days later of cardiac arrest during practice with his basketball team, the feds alleged.
Even after Finkelstein was told of the student’s death, he continued to rubber-stamp test results, prosecutors claimed.
A Florida man allegedly ran two bogus medical supply companies and fraudulently billed Medicaid and Medicare for $3.76 billion, court papers allege.
Ibrahim Hilmi, 58, of Miami, billed for medical equipment and wound dressing that his companies, ABRH Car Inc. and Sunshine Senior Solutions LLC, never provided, court papers alleged. Ibrahim Hilmi arrives in South Florida after being busted for an alleged $3.76 billion fraud scheme.
Most of the money he billed for was never paid to him, but he did receive $5.7 million in his companies’ accounts, according to a criminal indictment.
And within weeks, that money was transferred to Hong Kong and Indonesia, the court papers allege. When Hilmi started getting negative reviews accusing him of health care fraud, he fled the country and kept the racket going by getting others to run his business accounts, the indictment alleges.
He was arrested in Kyrenia, Cyprus, and brought to Florida for his first court appearance in the case Monday, prosecutors said.
One hundred and thirty persons have been arrested after men of the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI raided a suspected fraud compound in Ghana and arrested more than 130 people.
The FBI Director, Kash Patel, disclosed this in a post shared on his official X account on Thursday.
Patel said the operation, codenamed “Operation Blackout”, was carried out in the week as part of the FBI’s efforts to dismantle global scam centres.
“OPERATION BLACKOUT: This is the FBI’s global scam-centre fraud demolition. Another takedown this week out of Ghana,” Patel wrote.
He said the operation had so far resulted in nearly $10m in identified losses, 89 victims identified, more than 130 individuals arrested or detained, including victims who would be repatriated to their home countries, and more than 300 devices seized.
“Investigation is ongoing. These scam compounds target American citizens and destroy lives – and this @FBI is crushing them in every corner of the world. More to come,” he said.
Patel also gave an update on the overall Operation Blackout figures, saying roughly $17bn had been seized, hundreds of alleged scammers arrested and thousands of trafficked workers freed.
He added that more than 10,000 Americans had been warned before losing their money, while an estimated $670m in losses had been prevented.
The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a suspect, Adewale Arojah, identified as a prophet’s son, for allegedly impersonating a renowned cleric on Facebook and defrauding multiple victims of over N18m under the guise of offering prayers and spiritual assistance.
According to a statement by the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Oluseyi Babaseyi, on Thursday, the arrest followed a complaint lodged on October 3, 2026, by Muyiwa Akogun, popularly known on Facebook as “Prophet Dr. Muyiwa Akogun”.
The command said Akogun alerted the police after members of the public complained about “fraudulent activities being perpetrated in his name through a duplicated Facebook profile.”
“Upon receipt of the complaint, the Divisional Police Officer, Ilaro Division, immediately detailed intelligence and detective operatives to track down the perpetrator,” the statement said.
It added that “through sustained technological monitoring and intelligence-led analysis, the suspect was tracked to a nearby village in Ajegunle, via the Ilaro/Ibogun axis, where he was successfully apprehended.”
The police said the suspect confessed during interrogation to impersonating the cleric on Facebook.
“During a rigorous interrogation, the suspect confessed to impersonating the real Prophet Akogun on Facebook.
“He admitted to using the cleric’s identity to deliver fake prophecies and offer prayer services to vulnerable individuals, thereby defrauding victims residing both within Nigeria and in the diaspora,” Babaseyi said.
The command said preliminary investigations showed that the suspect allegedly targeted people seeking spiritual assistance through the prophet’s Facebook page.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect systematically targeted victims seeking spiritual assistance on the said prophet’s Facebook page, gains their trust and swindled them of funds amounting to over ₦18 million,” it said.
The suspect has since been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further investigation.
The command said the investigation would be used to ascertain the extent of the crime, identify potential accomplices, and ensure possible prosecution.
The command said the arrest was part of its efforts to tackle online fraud and identity theft in the state.
“The swift arrest highlights the Ogun State Police Command’s resolve to dismantle online fraud networks, curb identity theft, and deny cybercriminals safe space to operate across the state,” Babaseyi said.
The Commissioner of Police, Ogun State Command, Bode Ojajuni, commended the Ilaro operatives for what the statement described as their “vigilance, tactical discipline, and swift response”.
The CP also reaffirmed the command’s commitment to protecting residents from digital and physical threats.
The command advised members of the public to exercise caution when dealing with religious leaders and public figures on social media.
“The Command advises members of the public to exercise caution and due diligence when engaging with religious leaders or public figures on social media platforms,” the statement said.
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has summoned heads of security agencies in the state to a meeting following a spike in security breaches, particularly recent killings involving rival cult groups in the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Samuel Ojo, disclosed this during an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, saying the meeting would be held on Wednesday.
Ojo said the meeting would deliberate on and address the killings by suspected cultists in the state.
He added that the meeting would also discuss measures to make forests in the state safer, in view of the recent killing of an ISWAP leader in Owo, Ondo State.
“We are holding a security meeting on Wednesday, by the special grace of God, to reassure our people and put our security agencies on their toes.
“What happened in Ondo is a lesson to those criminals hibernating in the forests.
We will not take it lightly with anyone using the forest as a hideout,” he said.
He further said, “Aside from that, we are also using the meeting to address the incessant killings by rival cult groups in the past weeks.
“We need to meet and discuss how to stop these killings by cult groups or any other violent crimes hiding under that canopy.”
The governor’s aide, who stressed the need to stop the killings to protect Osun’s corporate image, warned perpetrators of violent crimes to desist or face dire consequences.
“We need to stop it, so as not to give our state a bad name, because nobody knows what they are fighting for or why they are killing themselves,” Ojo said.
The PUNCH reports that two separate attacks by members of rival cult groups, which occurred in Osogbo, the state capital, between last Friday and Sunday, left two people dead and about five others injured.
In reaction to the latest cult attack, the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Zungura, subsequently ordered tactical teams to raid suspected criminal hideouts in Osogbo.
