Overview
- At a Los Angeles news conference, Attorney General Rob Bonta called federal assertions that California facilitates widespread fraud false, reckless and politically motivated.
- Bonta said the California Department of Justice has recovered nearly $2.7 billion since 2016 through criminal and civil actions, including about $2 billion under the False Claims Act, roughly $740 million from Medi-Cal prosecutions, and $108 million from the TRUE task force.
- State data show more than 100 people have been charged in hospice-related cases since 2021 and roughly 280 hospices have been shut in the last two years, with Bonta also noting two dozen active civil suits.
- Reports citing unnamed sources say the White House is preparing a California-focused anti-fraud task force that could be led by Vice President JD Vance, though no plan has been formally announced.
- Backlash continues over CMS administrator Mehmet Oz’s viral video alleging Armenian-linked hospice fraud in Los Angeles, which prompted a civil-rights complaint from Governor Gavin Newsom.