NEW YORK: US federal prosecutors charged 11 people Friday in a Russia-based scheme to bilk Medicare — the American health insurance program for the elderly and disabled — out of $10.6 billion through fraudulent billing for expensive medical equipment.
The “transnational criminal organization” orchestrated a “multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme” that included purchasing dozens of medical equipment companies from prior legitimate owners to perpetrate the fraud, according to the indictment dated June 18.
More than a million Medicare recipients had their personal information stolen and used by the defendants to file for billions of dollars in claims from Medicare and its supplemental insurers, prosecutors said in the filing.
The claims were filed through medical equipment providers that the group had purchased, but no equipment was ever sent out for the payments.
Medicare paid “approximately $41 million as a result of the fraudulent submissions” and supplemental insurers are estimated to have paid out $900 million more between 2022 and 2024, prosecutors wrote.
The scheme was organized by Imam Nakhmatullaev, who is based in Russia, officials said, and managed the other defendants who were in Estonia, the Czech Republic and the United States.
The fraud was identified after “hundreds of thousands of Americans reported their concerns to Meidcare and its contractors after receiving explanation of benefit forms that reflected them purportedly receiving” equipment that they neither sought or received, the indictment said.
11 charged in Russia-based plan to defraud US health care of $10.6 billion
https://arab.news/5w5v4
11 charged in Russia-based plan to defraud US health care of $10.6 billion
- Prosecutors said the multinational crime group bought dozens of medical equipment companies from prior legitimate owners to perpetrate the fraud
- Russia-based Imam Nakhmatullaev organized the group, and got partners from Estonia, the Czech Republic and the US to run the scheme
US bars five Europeans it says pressured tech firms to censor American viewpoints online
WASHINGTON: The State Department announced Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure US tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.
The Europeans, characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio posted on X. “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.”
The five Europeans were identified by Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, in a series of posts on social media. They include the leaders of organizations that address digital hate and a former European Union commissioner who clashed with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump.
Rubio’s statement said they advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and US companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.
The action to bar them from the US is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or sanctions.
The five Europeans named by Rogers are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index; and former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was responsible for digital affairs.
Rogers in her post on X called Breton, a French business executive and former finance minister, the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep Internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.
She referred to Breton warning Musk of a possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his livestream interview with Trump in August 2024 when he was running for president.
Breton responded Tuesday on X by noting that all 27 EU members voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France condemns the visa restrictions on Breton and the four others. Also posting on X, he said the DSA was adopted to ensure that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online.” He said it “has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way concerns the United States.”
Most Europeans are covered by the Visa Waiver Program, which means they don’t necessarily need visas to come into the country. They do, however, need to complete an online application prior to arrival under a system run by the Department of Homeland Security, so it is possible that at least some of these five people have been flagged to DHS, a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details not publicly released.
Other visa restriction policies were announced this year, along with bans targeting foreign visitors from certain African and Middle Eastern countries and the Palestinian Authority. Visitors from some countries could be required to post a financial bond when applying for a visa.
