Federal prosecutors announced charges Thursday against 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, in alleged health care fraud schemes involving $2 billion in allegedly fraudulent claims to government programs and private insurers.
Two Greenville, Texas, residents face charges in the largest case, an alleged $1.6 billion substance abuse treatment operation.
Authorities arrested eight defendants on October 22. Prosecutors expected two of those arrested to appear in the Northern District of Texas. The Justice Department did not identify those two defendants in its announcement.
Texas Defendants Linked To $1.6 Billion Scheme
Honey Phipps, 42, and Cody Phipps, 36, both of Greenville, face charges alongside Nathan Young, 39, and David Young, 71, both of Los Angeles.
Prosecutors allege the Youngs operated a network of purported treatment centers and used recruiters, including the Phipps defendants, to bring vulnerable people into programs that billed private insurers for unnecessary or nonexistent care.
The indictment alleges recruiters offered flights, housing, cash and drugs to attract patients.
Some patients lived in crowded, unsanitary housing, while operators allegedly kept others from leaving, cut off contact with family members and used medication to sedate them. Prosecutors also accuse the operators of encouraging drug or alcohol use to qualify patients for additional treatment billing.
In a related case, Nicholas Moore, 33, of North Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. He admitted helping submit approximately $199 million in fraudulent insurance claims.
Unnecessary Procedures And Bogus Hospice Care
In another case, prosecutors charged cardiothoracic surgeon Harold Tabaie, 78, and chiropractor Hany Malek, 61, in an alleged $135 million Medicare scheme involving medically unnecessary artery-clearing procedures. The indictment alleges Malek posed as a physician, and Tabaie performed procedures on patients without arterial disease. Some patients experienced extreme pain and discomfort, prosecutors said.
Federal officials said billing-data analysis identified Tabaie as an extreme national outlier for the procedures.
Separate hospice cases accuse Geoffrey Jimenez, 60, Richard Keech, 83, and Armani Raffi, 59, of schemes involving false terminal-illness certifications, unnecessary care and claims for services patients never received. Prosecutors allege Jimenez’s primary hospice billed Medicare approximately $9.8 million and received more than $8.3 million.
Prosecutors also charged Christina Mareik, 61, in a Medi-Cal pharmacy scheme involving approximately $269 million in allegedly fraudulent claims and at least $178.7 million in payments. Other cases concern genetic-testing kickbacks, rehabilitation referrals and the unlawful sale of prescription drug samples. Two California doctors allegedly directed genetic-testing orders to ApolloMDx, a Houston laboratory.
Federal Officials Promise More Enforcement
“Our message is simple: if you steal health care dollars from the American taxpayer or abuse your position to harm patients, we are coming for you – and the data will lead us to you,” Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said in the Justice Department release.
The Dallas Express previously covered the June 2026 nationwide health care fraud sweep, which charged 455 defendants in cases involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged fraud. DX also examined a federal effort led by Vice President J.D. Vance to withhold suspicious hospice and home health payments.
The charges announced October 22 remain allegations. Prosecutors must prove the defendants’ guilt in court; Moore’s related guilty plea does not establish the other defendants’ guilt.
Provided by Dallas Express
