US prosecutors on Tuesday announced the arrest in Los Angeles of an Israeli citizen charged with conspiracy to defraud Medicare of some $27 million for hospice care, some of which he allegedly fabricated using dead beneficiaries’ data that he purchased from a local mortuary worker.

LA resident Oren David Shachar, 59, is one of 455 defendants charged in a “strategically coordinated, nationwide law enforcement action” against health care fraud, the US Department of Justice said. The defendants were implicated in “opioid abuse schemes involving more than $6.5 billion in false claims and significant patient harm, including death,” the DOJ said.

Shachar and alleged co-conspirator Abraham Shin were arrested on Thursday, while another alleged co-conspirator, Jeannie Choi, was arrested on Monday, according to the DOJ.

All three are charged with 16 counts, including health-care fraud and aggravated identity theft. If charged on all counts, the defendants possibly face several decades behind bars, the DOJ said.

Shachar and Shin pleaded not guilty at the US District Court in Los Angeles and will stand trial on August 11, while Choi was not yet arraigned, according to the DOJ statement.

The statement said that Shachar, who owns four LA-area hospices, in 2021 started billing the Medicare system for treatments........

© The Times of Israel