Florida-linked sweep charges 455 in $6.5B health-care fraud crackdown

A two-week federal enforcement operation charged 455 people in a $6.5 billion health-care fraud and insurance scheme, with Florida accounting for 36 defendants across federal and state cases. Highlights include a Boca Raton cardiologist accused of billing for unnecessary student-athlete heart screenings, a Tampa Bay nurse practitioner-led wound-care scheme billing Medicare $118 million, and a Miami individual allegedly directing a phantom-supplies scheme totaling about $3.76 billion. The DOJ says the crackdown aims to protect vulnerable patients and recover taxpayer funds, with asset seizures and ongoing prosecutions across multiple jurisdictions.