Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald Announces New West Coast Strike Force

Good morning, my name is Colin McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice.

I am joined today by U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian for the Northern District of California, U.S. Attorney Tim Courchaine from the District of Arizona, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah from the District of Nevada, members of the Department of Justice's Health Care Fraud Unit, and our law enforcement partners from FBI, DEA, and HHS-OIG.

Our message today and every day is simple: If you steal from the American taxpayer, the Department of Justice and our law enforcements partners will do everything possible to award you free housing in a federal prison. And we will not stop there. We will find the spoils of your fraud, take it from you, and give it back where it belongs: with the American people. No one, no one, should be allowed to rip off the United States of America - and we will not be shrugging our shoulders at those who do.

Already this week, alongside our law enforcement partners, we executed over 20 search warrants in fraud investigations in Minnesota; we indicted a bookkeeper in Florida for siphoning $3.9 million from her employer; we secured a guilty plea from a former Iowa nonprofit director who stole money meant to help Americans find work; and we obtained a prison sentence for a tax cheat in Texas who withheld, but did not pay, his employees' taxes. And last week, among many other fraud enforcement actions, a judge sent a sex offender to prison for lying to receive SNAP benefits. We will continue to work around the clock to prosecute fraud.

We are not doing this work alone. Under the leadership of President Trump, the entire apparatus of the federal government is laser-focused on fraud as part of the President's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within the Federal benefit programs. The Task Force is rapidly on the move, identifying fraudulent actors, strengthening our country's financial security protocols, and casting a clear vision that fraud against the American pocketbook will not be tolerated.

On April 7, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum on the creation of the Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division. In his memorandum, General Blanche directed the Department to take "immediate action to expand the National Fraud Enforcement Division into a robust litigating division capable of reaching any fraud - large or small - perpetrated against taxpayer dollars."

And we are springing into action.

Last week, the Fraud Division announced a historic $300 million grant program for state and local prosecutors to join the Department of Justice in our mission to combat fraud. We welcome all who share our concern for taxpayer dollars to join us in this mission.

And I am pleased to announce today a major new Fraud Division initiative to combat health care fraud: the creation of the West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force in Arizona, Nevada, and right here in the Northern District of California. The data shows that the need for this new Strike Force is urgent and undeniable. Health care fraud in these districts imposes an enormous and growing burden on American taxpayers as fraudsters exploit programs meant for the poor, needy, elderly, and disabled. Some of the most significant Medicaid, wound care, and digital health technology fraud cases have been prosecuted in these districts.

This new regional Strike Force will be staffed by at least ten prosecutors from the Fraud Division's Health Care Fraud Section who will be a force multiplier for these U.S. Attorneys' Offices to combat a health care fraud crisis that is robbing taxpayers and harming patients.

Since the creation of the National Rapid Response Strike Force in 2020, health care fraud prosecutors from Washington D.C. have been partnering with these U.S. Attorneys' Offices to prosecute cutting-edge cases on the West Coast.

For instance, in Arizona, just last year we secured guilty pleas and sentences of 15.5 and 14 years for two wound graft company owners stemming from a $1.2 billion wound graft scheme. We seized $126 million in assets, including cash, luxury vehicles, and gold bars, returning needed funds to the taxpayers.

Separately, prosecutors have charged a $650 million Medicaid fraud scheme that exploited vulnerable substance abuse patients, who did not receive the care that they needed.

But partnering on cases from Washington DC is not enough for the amount of health care fraud in these districts, and it's not enough for the vision that the National Fraud Enforcement Division is casting. We need more attorneys on the ground, across the nation, to combat this nationwide problem. That is why, only 22 days after the Acting Attorney General announced the creation of the Fraud Division, we are expanding our footprint here.

Today's new Strike Force builds on a proud tradition that stretches back almost two decades. Over that period, this program, now comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country - including the Central District of California-has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. Our Health Care Fraud Strike Force is a model that powerfully combines data analytics with traditional investigative techniques to produce rapid results. This new West Coast Strike Force carries that legacy forward - with a sharper focus, expanded resources, cutting-edge data analytics, and the full weight of this Department's commitment to protecting you, the American taxpayer.

This Strike Force will operate in close collaboration with U.S. Attorneys' Offices, the FBI, HHS-OIG, DEA, and our other law enforcement partners. We will use data analytics, cross-district regional coordination, and every available legal tool to identify, investigate, and prosecute these crimes with speed and efficiency.

Let me be clear, to anyone who is committing fraud in the health care industry in Arizona, Nevada, and California: this Strike Force is coming for you, whether you are committing fraud on the street, in a medical office, or in a boardroom.

Health care fraud steals from American taxpayers, corrupts the integrity of the programs that the most vulnerable among us rely upon, and puts patients at risk. The Fraud Division will track emerging fraud trends and follow the data, and the data in our possession shines an inescapable light on those committing health care fraud. The creation of the Fraud Division marks a new chapter in this effort. Our ability to prosecute these crimes will grow even more sophisticated with each passing day, and we will not rest in pursuing justice on behalf of taxpayers and patients.