Latest news with #KevinValdhans
CBS News
30-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Feds announce massive takedown of Medicare fraud suspects in "Operation Gold Rush"
The federal government revealed new details Monday about how they recently took down a massive Medicare fraud operation that CBS News New York first reported on last year. The feds are calling it Operation Gold Rush. The federal government says they stopped Medicare from paying out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims. It turns out, when CBS News New York went looking for the owner of G&I Ortho Supply in Gravesend early last year, federal investigators were looking for him, too. Federal prosecutors across the country charged 19 people in an international scheme, including Kevin Valdhans, a name CBS News New York first shared with viewers in our Feb. 2024 investigation. "We'd like to see them face justice" "We're fighting for the extradition of many of these individuals. We'd like to see them face justice in an American courtroom," said Matthew Galeotti, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division. Federal authorities also unveiled a series of other health care fraud cases across the country Monday--and new efforts to crack down on the practices. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to use AI and other tools to detect fraud faster. "What we're doing today is changing the paradigm. Not just going after bad guys and putting them behind bars, but actually getting ahead of these schemes so the money never leaves our bank account," said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Prosecutors say Valdhans and others bought about 30 medical supply stores then used them to submit $10 billion worth of bogus Medicare claims. Most of it was prevented, but the group collected $41 million taxpayer dollars from Medicare and $900 million from Medicare supplemental insurers. Federal investigators haven't said how much of that can be recovered, but they did say they're seizing assets in some of the cases announced Monday. "This enforcement action involves the seizure of cash as well as luxury vehicles and properties, returning real money to American taxpayers and to our government health care programs," Galeotti said. The Justice Department announced charges Monday against a total of 324 people connected to various health care fraud cases. Those include people from all over the world. Valdhans for example, is a citizen of the Czech Republic. Prosecutors say the leader of the group was based in Russia and elsewhere, and police arrested four people in Estonia last week in connection to that scheme.
CBS News
27-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
11 charged in major Medicare fraud bust, including Brooklyn business owner
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have now charged 11 people in one of the largest Medicare fraud busts in history, including the owner of a local business. CBS News New York first reported on the man and a slew of connected Medicare fraud complaints last year. Brooklyn business collects taxpayer dollars through alleged Medicare fraud In February 2024, CBS News New York investigative reporter Tim McNicholas went looking for the owner of G&I Ortho Supply in Gravesend. Dozens of Better Business Bureau complaints revealed G&I was collecting taxpayer dollars for catheters under the names of Medicare members who never requested them. The search led McNicholas to Staten Island, where one man said he'd recently sold the company to another man who was allegedly using a fake Texas ID. However, prosecutors said the name the buyer used was real: Kevin Valdhans. A second man — Jonathan Vaz, of Fort Lauderdale — said Valdhans also bought his company, but didn't remove him from their billing system after the sale. Vaz said at the time, he saw that Valdhans had billed about $7 million worth of catheters in just one week. Suspects received $41 million from Medicare, investigators say A federal indictment unsealed Thursday says Valdhans was part of a criminal organization based in Eastern Europe that bought more than 30 legitimate companies, then used them for Medicare fraud. Prosecutors say the group's leader was based in "Russia and elsewhere." Eight of the people charged are Estonian citizens, one is a United States citizen, and Valdhans is from the Czech Republic. The indictment accuses the group of "stealing the identities and personal identifying information of more than 1 million Americans." Investigators say the group submitted $10 billion worth of bogus Medicare claims and actually received $41 million from Medicare, plus $900 million from Medicare Supplemental Insurers. Prosecutors say the operation lasted until September. Similar fraud complaints at Queens-based business A Queens business has also been connected to Medicare fraud complaints, but that medical supply shop is not mentioned in the indictment. Some of the claims connected to that business were submitted as recently as this month. As far as we know, there is no direct connection between that business and the Russia-based organization, but it is a similar pattern in the sense that a man said he recently sold the Queens business and then started learning of fraud complaints.
