The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges today against 10 defendants in multiple states in connection with multiple business email compromise (BEC), money laundering, and wire fraud schemes that targeted Medicare, state Medicaid programs, private health insurers, and numerous other victims and resulted in more than $11.1 million in total losses.
“The Criminal Division and our partners are committed to holding accountable those who seek to line their own pockets through sophisticated business email compromise and money laundering schemes targeting public and private health insurers as well as individual victims,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As these cases demonstrate, we will work tirelessly to combat fraud affecting Medicare and Medicaid, which are vital in providing health care to millions of Americans, including some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
The charges stem primarily from BEC schemes in which individuals posing as business partners are alleged to have fraudulently diverted money from victims’ bank accounts into accounts they or co-conspirators controlled (sometimes through the use of recruited “money mules”) by using spoofed email addresses, bank account takeovers, and similar fraudulent methods designed to deceive victims into believing they were making legitimate payments.
“These defendants defrauded numerous individuals, companies, and federal programs,…
