Federal authorities announced “Operation Never Say Die” on April 2, 2026, arresting eight people, including three nurses and a psychologist, and charging seven others in Southern California schemes that allegedly defrauded Medicare and union health plans of more than $50 million.
Cases involved sham hospices billing for non-terminal patients, kickbacks, forged signatures, and personal spending on mortgages. Raids hit Anaheim, Covina, Glendale, Lakewood, and Idaho. FBI’s Akil Davis, U.S. Attorney’s Bill Essayli, and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz spoke at the press conference, vowing more actions.
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli vowed, “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.”
Likewise, Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, noted, “The Southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of health care fraud.
“The United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to healthcare fraud at the expense of all American taxpayers, whose benefits decrease as premiums, co-payments and taxes grow. Our aim is to reverse that trend with ‘Operation Never Say Die’ and others like it,” Davis pointed out.
General T. March Bell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, announced, “The defendants charged today allegedly turned hospice care into a cash-producing operation, resulting in more than $50 million in losses to taxpayers. The magnitude of the losses underscores a deliberate abuse of the authority and trust afforded to health care providers.
The same source added, “Today’s takedown reflects HHS-OIG’s commitment to deploy every tool at our disposal, and collaborate with our law enforcement partners, to dismantle hospice operations built on deception. Anyone who seeks to weaponize hospice care to bilk Medicare should expect to be held accountable.”
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“Today’s arrests are another decisive strike in our war on fraud,” explained U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito. “My office is relentlessly pursuing those who target union benefit plans and exploit employee healthcare programs for personal gain.
“Working side-by-side with the FBI, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, and our law-enforcement partners, we are aggressively dismantling fraud schemes and taking down those who exploit American workers. Let this be a warning: If you steal from workers or taxpayers, your time is up. We will find you, investigate you, and hold you accountable,” D’Esposito promised.
Robert Prunty, the Acting Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration, said, “When employee benefit plans become targets for fraud, it’s not just the plans that are hurt – everyday working Americans who earned those benefits honestly, their families, and the communities they live in are hurt. In the Trump Administration, we will relentlessly seek out fraud and ensure those responsible are brought to justice.”
“Health care fraud undermines federal programs, threatens public trust, diverts resources away from legitimate patient care, and is a calculated attack on programs meant to protect the vulnerable,” said Tyler Hatcher, an FBI Special Agent.