A Russia-based criminal syndicate ran one of the largest Medicare frauds in American history out of a storefront in Brooklyn, billing the program more than $10.6 billion and collecting roughly $941 million before federal agents unraveled it.

Operation Gold Rush

According to a superseding indictment unsealed June 23, the operation began in 2022, when the group quietly bought up more than 30 U.S. medical-supply companies that were already enrolled in Medicare — businesses scattered across California, Texas, Chicago and Kentucky.

Prosecutors have named the case “Operation Gold Rush.” The syndicate recruited young men, primarily from Russia and Estonia, and installed them as straw owners. Twelve people have now been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, health care fraud and money laundering: nationals of Russia, Czechia and Estonia, along with a single U.S. citizen.

One of the New York hubs was G&I Ortho Supply on Avenue X in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn. From those shell companies, prosecutors say, the gang blanket-billed Medicare almost entirely for urinary catheters, using the stolen credentials of some 7,000 physicians and more than 1 million Medicare recipients.

Investigation and Aftermath

Federal investigators have not identified which Russian organization was behind the fraud, and the indictment is thin on who was directing it from abroad. Criminologists who study Russian organized crime told the Post the sheer scale points higher up.

The money moved through accounts in China, Israel, Pakistan, Singapore, Turkey and Hong Kong. The June 23 announcement drew a wall of federal officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz.

In April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued 1.3 million recipients new ID numbers over the breach. Among the beneficiaries billed by the ring were 67 people who were already dead, and the scheme generated more than 400,000 complaints.

Original reporting: KTSA News/Talk (San Antonio) — read the source article.