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Speaker 1: I have never had any knowledge of epstein abuse of

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Speaker 1: his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I

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Speaker 1: was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane, and

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Speaker 1: never visited his private hiland.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.

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Speaker 3: Good Friday morning.

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Speaker 4: Nice to have you with us on the forty seven

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Speaker 4: Morning Update, and we've got one big story for you.

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Speaker 3: This involves a massive fraud.

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Speaker 4: California forced to dismantle more than two hundred and sixty

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Speaker 4: seven million in hospice fraud ring and Operation Skip Chase.

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Speaker 4: The shocking part is Democrats are claiming now in California

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Speaker 4: they've been fighting fraud all along, and we expose exactly.

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Speaker 3: How they're lying to you about it.

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Speaker 4: Now, before we get to that, I want to tell

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Speaker 4: We must work together to save our country. So go

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Speaker 4: seven to two Patriot and switch today. It's the forty

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Speaker 4: seven Morning Update and it starts right now.

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Speaker 2: Story number one.

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Speaker 4: The easiest way I can describe this next story is well,

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Speaker 4: at least it's a big start for the president of

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Speaker 4: United States of America. He promised that he was going

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Speaker 4: to go after waste, fraud and abuse, and he was

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Speaker 4: going to make sure the government was doing everything they

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Speaker 4: could to make sure your tax dollars weren't being stolen. Well,

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Speaker 4: now we're gonna move to California, where officials there have

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Speaker 4: just announced a major crackdown on healthcare fraud. They have

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Speaker 4: dismantled what has been described as a massive two hundred

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Speaker 4: and sixty seven million dollar hospice scam they're now calling

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Speaker 4: the operation Skip Trace. Authorities have also charged twenty one

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Speaker 4: individuals in connection with this scheme. Several arrests have already

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Speaker 4: been made, and many more are actually expected now. According

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Speaker 4: to investigators, this was not a small time operation. It

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Speaker 4: was a highly organized fraud ring that exploited California's medical system.

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Speaker 4: That's the state's medicaid program. How do they do it?

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Speaker 4: It's pretty simple. They were billing for hospice services that

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Speaker 4: were never actually provided to anyone. In fact, officials say

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Speaker 4: not a single legitimate hospice service was ever delivered to anyone,

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Speaker 4: despite millions of dollars in claims and your tax dollars

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Speaker 4: being stolen. The scheme worked with purchasing stolen personal information,

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Speaker 4: in some cases from the dark web. Then they would

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Speaker 4: use those identities to enroll fake patients into medical From there,

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Speaker 4: the suspects used in network, as they described it at

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Speaker 4: the press conference, of at least fourteen different hospice companies,

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Speaker 4: often controlled by so called straw owners. They would then

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Speaker 4: submit fraudulent claims and collect your tax dollars. Fox eleven,

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles, describing it this.

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Speaker 5: Way, sometimes the people who need care the most end

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Speaker 5: up in a system that needs watching too. State officials

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Speaker 5: are now promising to continue their crackdown on hospice fraud.

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Speaker 5: Investigation could raise bigger questions about trust, money and who

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Speaker 5: profits at the end of life. The crackdowns now zeroing

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Speaker 5: in a scheme has drained millions from medical. Fox eleven's

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Speaker 5: Nick Garsias in downtown LA, where state leaders has stolen

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Speaker 5: identities helped fuel this case.

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Speaker 6: Work was seeing well. Attorney General rab Bonta was here

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Speaker 6: today to announce Operation Skip Trace, which happened yesterday and

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Speaker 6: targeted twenty one suspects across ten different locations right here

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Speaker 6: in southern California. Those suspects accused of defrauding the state

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Speaker 6: of two hundred and sixty seven million dollars. A massive

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Speaker 6: takedown of a complex fraud ring which investigators say took

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Speaker 6: advantage of state money intended for hospice care.

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Speaker 7: This was a brazen, calculated criminal scheme that exploited the

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Speaker 7: medical system, stole from the State of California and Medicaid,

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Speaker 7: and prevented services and care from going to sick individuals

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Speaker 7: who actually need it.

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Speaker 6: The suspects defrauded the state two hundred and sixty seven

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Speaker 6: million dollars by using stolen identities to.

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Speaker 3: Enroll in hospice.

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Speaker 6: Five have been arrested so far. State officials say they're

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Speaker 6: increasing protections. We are using a faster and more secure

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Speaker 6: online process, and we're adding stronger checks to prevent fake

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Speaker 6: applications or stolen identities from getting into the system. This

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Speaker 6: operation comes as the federal government has started to crack

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Speaker 6: down on hospice fraud. US Attorney Bill A. Saley on

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Speaker 6: Good Day LA Thursday Morning.

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Speaker 8: Fraud hasn't always been a priority of the Department of Justice,

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Speaker 8: particularly fraud against taxpayers. That is changing, because when you

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Speaker 8: defraud these programs, not only are fraudsters getting away with

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Speaker 8: our money, it's taking money away from people really need it.

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Speaker 6: But Attorney General Bonta says fraud has long been a

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Speaker 6: priority for California's Department of Justice.

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Speaker 7: Well, healthcare fraud might be President Trump's shiny new political

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Speaker 7: talking point. California DOJ has been going after health care

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Speaker 7: fraud since nineteen seventy nine.

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Speaker 4: By the way, I love how Democrats in California, as

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Speaker 4: you just heard there saying, well, we've been on top

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Speaker 4: of this. How was this uncovered? It wasn't because of

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Speaker 4: their work. It was because of undercover individuals, literally citizen

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Speaker 4: journalists who started looking and exposing all of the fraud.

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Speaker 4: And now California is wanting you to believe that they've

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Speaker 4: been on top of the issue all along.

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Speaker 3: It's just not the case.

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Speaker 4: Now law enforcement did execute search warrants across multiple locations

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Speaker 4: in southern California. We now know they sees cash, they

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Speaker 4: sees firearms, and evidence tied to the operation. Prosecutors have

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Speaker 4: hit the defendance with a range of serious charges, including

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Speaker 4: healthcare fraud and any theft, conspiracy, and money laundering. Crimes

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Speaker 4: that could carry significant prison time if they're convicted. By

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Speaker 4: the way, to be clear, there's no indication that California

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Speaker 4: is actually getting serious about really cracking down on this.

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Speaker 4: They were shamed into doing their job. Now, the state officials,

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Speaker 4: one that you just heard there says this case highlights

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Speaker 4: a growing national problem. So they want you to believe

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Speaker 4: that what you're witnessing in California is while happening where

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Speaker 4: you live, and even if you're at a conservative state

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Speaker 4: that cracks down on this stuff, they're telling you, no, no,

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Speaker 4: there must be fraud there.

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Speaker 3: We're not the only ones that have an issue.

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Speaker 4: They also said they're sending a clear message those who

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Speaker 4: exploit programs meant for the sick and vulnerable and still

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Speaker 4: from taxpayers will be aggressively pursued and held accountable. Now,

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Speaker 4: there's also no indication that California is actually ready to

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Speaker 4: do that. So the California Attorney General Rob Banta and

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Speaker 4: the Department of Health Services there, they're now saying that

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Speaker 4: you should be thanking them for taking down the staggering

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Speaker 4: two hundred and sixty seven million dollar health care fraud ring.

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Speaker 4: The only reason why this happened is because you had

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Speaker 4: conservatives online that publicly shamed them into doing their job.

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Speaker 4: The operation, which involved twenty one suspects so far, fourteen

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Speaker 4: fraudulent companies targeting the state's medical system by billing for

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Speaker 4: hospice services that were never rendered to anyone. That is

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Speaker 4: the story that everyone should be angry about. Yeah, they've

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Speaker 4: been charged, but it wasn't like California was actually leading

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Speaker 4: the way. What's also interesting about these twenty one suspects

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Speaker 4: have been charged is the investigation has now hit into

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Speaker 4: one hundred and thirty associated shell companies as well. Now

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Speaker 4: it's unclear exactly how much to the two hundred and

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Speaker 4: sixty seven million is defrauded funds and how much of

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Speaker 4: it can actually be recovered. Manta noted that only about

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Speaker 4: thirty million has been retrieved so far, So we're missing

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Speaker 4: two hundred and thirty seven million. So when he says

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Speaker 4: we're on top of it, ask yourself, if that's true,

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Speaker 4: then where's the other two hundred and thirty plus million

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Speaker 4: dollars that you promised?

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Speaker 3: Now?

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Speaker 4: LA Good Day that is one of the leading morning

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Speaker 4: shows in LA. They went on the air and they

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Speaker 4: explained it to their audience a little bit differently.

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Speaker 3: Listen carefully.

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Speaker 9: These are cracking down on what they call a massive

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Speaker 9: healthcare fraud scheme. Right here in California.

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Speaker 10: Eight people are now under arrest, accused of running sham

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Speaker 10: hospice operations that allegedly stole more than fifty million dollars

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Speaker 10: from Medicare. The takedown, dubbed Operation Never Say Die, could

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Speaker 10: signal a broader push to target fraud across the region.

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Speaker 11: Joining us now is US Attorney.

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Speaker 10: Bill a Sale to break down the case, what it

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Speaker 10: means for taxpayers also the integrity of our healthcare system.

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Speaker 11: Thank you so much for being here this morning, Thanks

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Speaker 11: for having me. This is a big operation.

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Speaker 12: It is big.

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Speaker 8: It was one of the first operations under the Vice

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Speaker 8: President's new Task Force on Fraud.

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Speaker 12: We did in coordination with the Vice President.

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Speaker 8: And of course doctor Oz who oversees Medicare program. And

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Speaker 8: we're out there early and we took down We announced

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Speaker 8: fifteen separate cases, We arrested eight people, and again almost

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Speaker 8: sixty million dollars in fraud just in one day.

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Speaker 9: So explain how this hospice fraud worked. I mean, these

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Speaker 9: little communities are sort of working together to try to

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Speaker 9: try to scam the system.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, A lot of these are repeat fraud and what

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Speaker 8: happens is they take advantage of vulnerabilities in our systems.

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Speaker 8: So it starts with getting a hospice license through the

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Speaker 8: state of California, and to be honest, California did not

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Speaker 8: have good systems in place. They still don't for vetting

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Speaker 8: and checking to make sure these are legitimate operators. Once

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Speaker 8: they have that hospice license, they then have the ability

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Speaker 8: to build medicare.

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Speaker 12: And that's what they were doing. They were submitting fraudulent names.

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Speaker 8: Or in some cases they are real people's names, but

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Speaker 8: they weren't really in hospice.

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Speaker 12: They were not dying.

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Speaker 8: That's why the operator they die and billing millions and

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Speaker 8: millions of dollars over.

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Speaker 12: A few years.

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Speaker 11: And were these people getting kickbacks then.

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Speaker 12: Some were, some weren't.

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Speaker 8: Yes, And again on average they got about five or

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Speaker 8: six thousand dollars per name per month, and then they

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Speaker 8: would kick back maybe three hundred dollars to the patients themselves.

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Speaker 8: But the fraudsters, of course, are always going to want

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Speaker 8: to keep most of the money.

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Speaker 11: How long had this been going on?

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Speaker 12: This has been going on for years.

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Speaker 8: We've really seen explosion uptake after COVID, there was a

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Speaker 8: lot more money put into systems, put into PPP, and

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Speaker 8: that's what I think fraudsters realize the amount of money

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Speaker 8: that's available in these government accounts. But you know, the

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Speaker 8: message you want to get across is fraud hasn't always

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Speaker 8: been a priority of the Department of Justice, particularly fraud

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Speaker 8: against taxpayers. That is changing because when you defraud these programs,

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Speaker 8: not only are fraudsters getting away with our money, it's

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Speaker 8: taking money away from people really need it. It's draining

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Speaker 8: the healthcare system of important money that's needed for people

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Speaker 8: who actually need it. And that's really the big message here.

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Speaker 9: We do have the response from Governor Newsom and also

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Speaker 9: ag Rob Bonta responded to this. You guys been going

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Speaker 9: kind of back and forth online, and part of it

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Speaker 9: is what they're saying is that it's the federal government

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Speaker 9: that oversees medicare, it's not us. They also are saying, look,

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Speaker 9: we've been part of this partnership to crack down on

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Speaker 9: this fraud in medicare. We've made huge strides in all

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Speaker 9: of this.

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Speaker 12: What do you have to say, Yeah, a couple of

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Speaker 12: things going on here.

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Speaker 8: At number one, the federal government's basically the piggybank. It's

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Speaker 8: the federal government provides most of the money that goes

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Speaker 8: to these programs. However, they're administered by the states. It's

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Speaker 8: the state of California that's responsible for hospice. California license

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Speaker 8: every single hospice. They're supposed to be vetting and checking.

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Speaker 8: And our criticism of the State of California is that

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Speaker 8: they don't have sufficient measures in place to prevent and

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Speaker 8: detect fraud. In the first instance, the money's going out

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Speaker 8: the door, and then they're coming to us and saying,

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Speaker 8: all this fraud occurred, help us get the bad guys.

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Speaker 12: We don't want to pay and chase. We want to

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Speaker 12: stop the fraud from happening.

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Speaker 9: And the first one that's kind of interesting is that

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Speaker 9: no one denies that this is taking place. So even

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Speaker 9: though they're saying we're fighting at also everybody admits that

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Speaker 9: this is a big deal.

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Speaker 8: It's a massive deal. I think the state does dispute

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Speaker 8: the extent how much it is. We think it's potentially

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Speaker 8: in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But again, the

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Speaker 8: focus has always been to push money out the door.

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Speaker 8: I wasn't Sacramento. I was a legislator up there. They

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Speaker 8: want to get as much money out the door as possible.

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Speaker 8: That's how they measure success. We want to change that mindset.

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Speaker 8: We want to focus on making sure that the fraudsters

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Speaker 8: never get the money in the first place, so we're

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Speaker 8: not having to chase them down, arrest them and try

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Speaker 8: to recover money after the fact.

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Speaker 11: Oh yeah, what happens to all that money now?

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Speaker 12: Well, a lot of it gets spent. Honestly, a lot

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Speaker 12: of it fraud.

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Speaker 11: They are very luxury cars and homes.

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Speaker 8: Hotels, of vacations, bags. So we try to recover as

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Speaker 8: much of it as we can. We will seize properties,

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Speaker 8: we will seize cars, we will seize bank accounts, but frankly,

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Speaker 8: a lot of it gets spent, and a lot of

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Speaker 8: these fraudsters are also tied to international organizations and the

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Speaker 8: money goes out the countries.

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Speaker 4: Let's just pause there, and I want you to just

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Speaker 4: think about what you just heard there on the local

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Speaker 4: Fox affiliate. And they're doing a better job on Good

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Speaker 4: Day LA talking about this. Then the national media is

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Speaker 4: they're also telling you the truth that the money is

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Speaker 4: going overseas, and they're also telling you the truth that

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Speaker 4: democrats can say how they want to this is somehow

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Speaker 4: a federal problem instead of a local problem and the

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Speaker 4: way that they described it. But they're also saying, like,

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Speaker 4: let's be clear, they're the ones that are over all

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Speaker 4: of this, and that clearly is part of the hypocrisy here.

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Speaker 4: Democrats did not care that this fraud was taking place.

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Speaker 4: They knew about it. There were people, multiple people that

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Speaker 4: had alerted them of what they saw was clearly fraud,

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Speaker 4: and they looked the other way. Why because they don't

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Speaker 4: care if people are stealing from you, the taxpayer. They

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Speaker 4: don't care what's happening here as long as they're getting

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Speaker 4: a little bit of a kickback. We saw the kickbacks

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Speaker 4: by the way Minnesota, where many of these fraud sers

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Speaker 4: were giving political donations to you guessed it, the Democrats

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Speaker 4: that were in charge at the local, state and the

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Speaker 4: national level. Now, this much fraud, there were massive signs.

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Speaker 4: Everyone knew there were signs, and they didn't care. The

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Speaker 4: question we should be asking now is why and what

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Speaker 4: did they know, when did they know it? And how

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Speaker 4: much are they hiding from all of us?

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listen listening to the forty seven Morning

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