Federal authorities arrested eight people in Los Angeles on Thursday in a sweeping crackdown on alleged sham hospice operations that prosecutors say bilked Medicare out of more than $50 million by enrolling healthy patients, paying cash kickbacks, and billing for care that was never needed or never provided. The operation, dubbed “Never Say Die,” marks one of the largest hospice fraud takedowns in Southern California history.
The defendants include nurses, a chiropractor, and a self-described psychologist. Prosecutors say the suspects ran hospice companies that signed up patients who were not terminally ill, fabricated medical records, and pocketed millions from a federal program designed to comfort the dying.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli framed the arrests as part of a broader zero-tolerance approach to health care fraud. Fox News reported that Essayli said the defendants face years in federal prison:
“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for criminals who defraud American taxpayers. The defendants arrested this morning who are charged with stealing millions of dollars of health care benefits got caught and now face years in federal prison.”
If convicted, many of the defendants face up to 10 years in federal prison. Some charges carry even longer sentences.
The allegations read like a manual for looting a government program. In one case, Anaheim nurse Lolita Minerd allegedly ran a hospice business that recruited patients at a local market, promising free services and $300 a month in cash to enroll. Her company submitted more than $9.1 million in claims to Medicare and collected roughly $8.5 million, prosecutors say.
Five of the cases involved hospice centers that allegedly billed Medicare for patients who were not terminally ill and did not qualify for hospice services, AP News reported. The hospice locations spanned Glendale, Artesia, Tarzana, and Simi Valley.
In another scheme, a Covina couple, a nurse and a self-described psychologist, allegedly pulled in more than $4 million from Medicare. Prosecutors say a separate couple was paid $600 a month in envelopes of cash as part of the kickback arrangements.
One defendant stands out even in this lineup. Federal prosecutors say a repeat offender was allegedly running multiple fraudulent hospice companies while already facing charges in a separate case, and while legally barred from operating such businesses at all. That detail alone tells you how brazen the alleged conduct was, and how long it apparently went unchecked.
The hospice fraud was not the only target. Authorities say the takedown also uncovered a separate $19 million scheme targeting a labor union’s health plan. The Washington Times reported that the broader set of allegations included forged immigration medical documents alongside the hospice and union health plan cases.
Robert Prunty of the Department of Labor put the stakes plainly:
“When employee benefit plans become targets for fraud, it’s not just the plans that are hurt, everyday working Americans, their families and their communities are hurt.”
That $19 million figure is separate from the $50 million hospice total. Together, the alleged losses represent a staggering drain on programs funded by working people and their employers.
Federal officials did not treat Thursday’s arrests as an isolated case. Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, called the region a magnet for this kind of crime:
“The Southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of health care fraud.”
Davis noted that the United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to health care fraud. That number dwarfs the $50 million at issue here, which suggests that Operation Never Say Die, for all its scope, barely scratches the surface.
The Trump administration’s anti-fraud task force, led by Vice President JD Vance, has already suspended 221 hospice and healthcare providers in Los Angeles due to suspected fraud, Breitbart reported. Vance announced the arrests publicly, saying federal law enforcement was “taking down fraudsters who stole $50M+ from Americans by defrauding our healthcare and hospice systems.”
Essayli provided additional detail on the scope: Operation Never Say Die involves 11 defendants accused of fraud totaling more than $50 million. Eight were arrested Thursday. The status of the remaining three defendants was not immediately clear from available statements.
The chorus of federal officials who commented on the arrests was unusually large and unusually direct. HHS Inspector General T. March Bell said the defendants “allegedly turned hospice care into a cash-producing operation, resulting in more than $50 million in losses to taxpayers.” He added a warning aimed beyond the eight people in handcuffs:
“Anyone who seeks to weaponize hospice care to bilk Medicare should expect to be held accountable.”
Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito called the arrests “another decisive strike” and said bluntly: “If you steal from workers or taxpayers, your time is up. We will find you, investigate you and hold you accountable.”
IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher struck a similar note, saying health care fraud “undermines federal programs, threatens public trust and diverts resources away from legitimate patient care.” He added: “Those who profit at the expense of taxpayers and patients will be held accountable.”
The coordinated messaging from the Justice Department, FBI, HHS, IRS, and Department of Labor suggests this was not a routine bust. Multiple agencies clearly wanted to send a signal, to the public, and to anyone else running a similar operation.
The numbers are worth laying out clearly. Prosecutors allege more than $50 million in total losses to taxpayers from the hospice schemes alone. A separate $19 million scheme targeted a labor union’s health plan. One defendant’s company alone collected $8.5 million from Medicare. Another pair allegedly extracted more than $4 million. Patients were paid $300 or $600 a month in cash, pocket change compared to the millions billed in their names.
Every dollar came from somewhere. Medicare is funded by payroll taxes and premiums paid by seniors. Union health plans are funded by worker contributions and employer payments negotiated at the bargaining table. The victims here are not abstract budget lines. They are retirees, workers, and taxpayers who trusted that the system would spend their money on actual care for people who actually needed it.
And the alleged conduct was not subtle. Recruiting patients at a market. Handing out envelopes of cash. Billing for end-of-life care for people who were not dying. One defendant allegedly kept operating hospice companies after being charged in a separate fraud case and barred from running such businesses. That is not a gray area. That is, if the allegations hold, open contempt for the law.
The arrests are the beginning, not the end. The names of seven of the eight defendants have not been publicly detailed beyond Lolita Minerd. The specific federal charges against each defendant, the court where the cases were filed, and the names of the hospice companies involved have not been fully disclosed. The labor union whose health plan was allegedly targeted has not been identified. And the dates over which the alleged conduct occurred remain unclear.
Those gaps matter. A $50 million fraud does not happen overnight. It requires billing systems, compliant staff, patient lists, and, apparently, a regulatory environment that did not catch it in time. The question of how these operations ran for as long as they did, and what systemic failures allowed it, deserves answers that go beyond the arrest announcements.
With 221 hospice and healthcare providers already suspended in Los Angeles alone, the scale of the problem in Southern California is clearly far larger than one Thursday morning operation. The enforcement is welcome. But the size of the hole suggests the system that let it grow this large needs more than a crackdown, it needs a reckoning.
When dying patients are supposed to receive comfort and instead become line items in a billing scheme, something has gone deeply wrong. The arrests are a start. The accountability should not stop with the people in handcuffs.
By signing up, you agree to receive our newsletters and promotional content and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.