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Several hundreds have been charged (1) with taking part in multibillion dollar healthcare fraud schemes, the Department of Justice announced this week, as part of its annual National Health Care Fraud Takedown initiative.
Among the hundreds of cases, one that stands out is that of a 49-year-old nurse practitioner Mariel Yukee from Las Vegas (2). Yukee, who operates mobile wound clinics in four states, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and healthcare fraud, as well as offering, paying, soliciting, and receiving illegal healthcare kickbacks. Not to mention, money laundering.
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According to government officials, Yukee targeted terminally ill elderly Medicare patients in hospice care and billed Medicare and TRICARE for $906 million in unnecessary amniotic wound allografts. She allegedly applied allografts — tissue taken from human donors and used as an alternative to synthetic implants in patients — to wounds that had already healed, and to wounds that were not responding to the treatment.
Yukee then allegedly falsified patient medical data to make it appear like the allografts were necessary. Of the $906 million in fraudulent claims filed by the accused, an estimated $297 million was paid out, officials say. Assets valued at roughly $35.2 million were seized as part of the investigation, including $467,000, a $594,000 Ferrari 296 GTS and a Bulgari necklace purchased for $865,000.
Overall, charges were filed against 11 defendants in relation to amniotic wound allografts, according to officials — across six districts.
Other fraudulent cases of note
If you scroll through the case summaries (3), they become even more jaw dropping. Other charges that stand out are two against medical professionals and service providers in Texas and Virginia.
Dr. Jason Finkelstein, of Fort Worth, Texas, has been charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, as well as health care fraud, in connection to an $89 million cardiovascular testing scheme. Finkelstein serves as the medical director of a cardiovascular testing company, Company 1, which conducted tests on student athletes across the U.S.
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According to the Justice Department, Finkelstein conspired with others to use two other companies he owned — Cardiovascular Testing Services PA and Cardiovascular Healthcare Associates PA — to submit the false claims with made up diagnoses, without conducting examinations or reviewing tests to determine whether student athletes were at risk of cardiac arrest.
On one occasion, in October 2024, Dr. Finkelstein deemed the cardiovascular tests of one collegiate basketball player as “normal” despite tests showing potential cardiovascular abnormalities. Approximately 24 days later, the student died from sudden cardiac arrest.
In the Eastern District of Virginia, Mikia Noble, 37, the co-owner of a mental health company Advancing Communities Everywhere, was charged by information with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Noble is alleged to have approached unhoused people with medicaid coverage, under the guise that the company would offer them mental health services in exchange for using their Medicaid ID numbers. Only those services were never completed or weren’t needed at all.
Noble and others submitted approximately $49.6 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicaid, of which approximately $38.6 million was paid.
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What else you should know about the healthcare fraud takedown
The Justice Department brought charges against 455 defendants on June 23, including 90 doctors and other licensed professionals. Their participation in healthcare fraud and related schemes is said to involve over $6.5 billion in false claims.
The 2026 takedown spanned 45 U.S. states and 56 federal districts. The healthcare fraud takedown initiative is a joint operation between the Justice Department, the FBI, and the HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
In 2025, the U.S. government charged 324 defendants in connection with $14.6 billion in alleged fraud (4). One man, Ibrahim Khaldoon Hilmi, who fled the U.S. in May 2025, was apprehended in Kyrenia, Cyprus, in June, according to the Justice Department. Hilmi is charged with defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and private insurers for $3.7 billion in durable medical equipment that was never provided.
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U.S. Department of Justice (1), (3), (4); News3lv (2)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: She billed Medicare $906 million for hospice patients — then spent it on a Ferrari and a Bulgari necklace
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