Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force has suspended 221 hospice and health care providers in Los Angeles. This is a significant increase from the 70 providers that the administration reported as suspended just a week earlier. Federal authorities are expanding a fraud crackdown in California. Fox News reported on Thursday, citing administration officials, that these suspensions were due to suspected fraud. More suspensions are expected in the coming weeks.
A spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital that the administration’s efforts are yielding new results. The spokesperson stated that the number of suspended providers will continue to rise.
A senior administration official also mentioned, “We expect this number to grow much, much higher in the coming weeks.” Some of the suspended providers were linked to federal raids that occurred early Thursday in the Los Angeles area.
🚨 Early this morning, the FBI and our partners executed multiple raids near Los Angeles, California as part of a fraud takedown “Operation Never Say Die” – targeting 11 individuals who allegedly engaged in massive fraud of taxpayer funded healthcare systems.
The fraud totals at… pic.twitter.com/mGbGuC8MPY
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 2, 2026
The suspensions coincided with the Justice Department’s announcement of the arrests of eight individuals in Southern California. This operation targeted health care fraud and worked alongside the Vice President’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
Federal prosecutors stated that the defendants, which included three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist, were accused of defrauding the health care system of over $50 million. Some of this was through bogus hospice operations that billed Medicare for individuals who were not terminally ill.
In one instance, prosecutors said licensed vocational nurse Lolita Beronilla Minerd used Topanga Hospice Care Inc. to submit over $9.1 million in fraudulent hospice claims to Medicare between July 2020 and April 2025.
Medicare paid more than $8.5 million on those claims. Court documents from the Justice Department revealed that beneficiaries were offered cash and free items to enroll, even if they were not terminally ill. Prosecutors noted that Topanga’s non-death discharge rate was about 85%, while the national average in 2021 was 17.2%.
In another case, prosecutors stated that psychologist Gladwin Gill and registered nurse Amelou Gill submitted over $5.2 million in fraudulent claims through 626 Hospice Inc., which operates as St. Francis Palliative Care.
According to the Justice Department, Medicare paid over $4 million on those claims. The couple allegedly used the funds for personal expenses, including mortgage payments, flights, and restaurant bills. Adolfo Catbagan and repeat fraud defendant Nita Almuete Paddit Palma faced charges in a separate case involving three hospice facilities that reportedly billed Medicare at least $4.8 million.
🚨 HOLY SMOKES. Dr. Oz just revealed that HALF of the 1,800 Los Angeles hospice centers are likely FRAUDULENT
221 fraudulent hospices have already been taken out of order!
Oz made the announcement after the feds carried out a blockbuster fraud raid in Gavin Newsom’s California… pic.twitter.com/tlOtPBBYEG
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 2, 2026
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli remarked that the defendants “got caught and now face years in federal prison.”
Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, noted that Southern California remains “a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of health care fraud.” HHS Inspector General T. March Bell stated that the arrests targeted operators who had turned hospice care into “a cash-producing operation.”
The California crackdown has become a political issue between the White House and Governor Gavin Newsom. Fox News reported that President Donald Trump claimed in January that California was “more corrupt than Minnesota” as his administration launched its anti-fraud initiative.
Newsom’s office responded last month, stating the state had already blocked $125 billion in fraud. They argued that many of the programs under scrutiny are managed by the federal government, not Sacramento.
Vance linked the California effort to the administration’s broader fraud campaign. Earlier this year, he noted that at least $19 billion in suspected fraud had been identified in Minnesota.
In February, he and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz announced that $259.5 million in Medicaid funding would be withheld from Minnesota. Oz told the California Post this week that the administration is acting more quickly in Los Angeles than Newsom has over several years.
