联邦执法部门周四打掉了一个洛杉矶医疗诈骗团伙，被指控涉案金额高达20亿美元，给白领窃贼戴上手铐，罪名包括实施不必要的手术、以无家可归者为目标骗取康复费用，以及向政府虚报临终关怀护理费用。
Feds busted Los Angeles medical fraudsters accused of stealing $2 billion Thursday, cuffing white-collar thieves for unneeded surgeries, hunting the homeless for rehabs and billing the government for phony hospice care.
司法部官员总共起诉了15名被告，其中包括医疗专业人员，指控他们向政府和私人医疗保健项目提出欺诈性索赔——其中包括一起涉案金额达16亿美元的虚假康复案件，这是同类案件中有史以来最大的一起。
Department of Justice officials charged 15 defendants in all, including medical professionals, for making fraudulent claims to government and private health care programs – including $1.6 billion sham rehab case, the largest of its type ever.
《加利福尼亚邮报》记者在现场目击了联邦特种武器战术小组（SWAT）在一系列拂晓突击行动中搜捕嫌疑人，目标锁定了诸如61岁的Hany Malek医生等“上流社会罪犯”，这名脊椎按摩治疗师涉嫌持有武器且极具危险性，被指在其位于塔兹纳（Tarzana）价值200万美元的豪宅中藏有军火库。
The California Post was there as Federal SWAT teams sought their suspects in a series of predawn raids, targeting high-class criminals such as Dr. Hany Malek, 61, an allegedly armed-and-dangerous chiropractor accused of keeping an arsenal in his $2 million Tarzana mansion.
“举起双手出来，”一名FBI特工在庞大的、全副武装、身着迷彩服的执法人员队伍中高喊，他们包围了Malek那座巨大的郊区豪宅，周围聚集着大量武装车辆。
“Come out with your hands up,” called an FBI agent in the huge, gun-toting team of camouflaged officers who encircled Malek’s massive suburban home with a swarm of armed vehicles.
特工们切开Malek的安保大门，将梯子架在高大的围墙上，枪口对准屋内。三枚闪光震爆弹爆炸，警笛声大作。
Agents cut Malek’s security gate and placed ladders against his tall fences, training guns on his home. Three flash-bang grenades exploded and sirens were activated.
片刻之后，FBI将Malek制服戴上手铐，押上了一辆装甲车。
After a few moments, the FBI brought their man down in handcuffs and placed in him an armored truck.
Malek被指控与来自安纳海姆的78岁心胸外科医生Harold Tabaie勾结，通过为数百名患者虚报不必要的旋切术医疗费，骗取医疗保险（Medicare）赔付1.34亿美元，导致许多患者受伤。
Malek is accused of working with Dr. Harold Tabaie, 78, of Anaheim, a cardiothoracic surgeon, of stealing $134 million in fraudulently billed Medicare claims for unnecessary atherectomy procedures for hundreds of patients, resulting in injury to many.
当局称，Malek冒充医学博士，诊断患者患有动脉疾病，建议他们接受一种侵入性手术，即利用带刀头的导管清除动脉内的斑块。
Authorities say Malek posed as a medical doctor and diagnosed patients with arterial disease, recommending that they receive the invasive procedure in which a bladed catheter is used to clear plaque from arteries.
检方称，Tabaie随后对并未真正患病的患者实施了该手术，并对部分曾因该手术治疗失败的患者重复实施旋切术。
Tabaie then performed the procedures on patients who did not actually have disease, executing repeat atherectomies on some who he previously treated unsuccessfully with the procedure, prosecutors say.
美国助理检察长Bill Essayli表示，这些案件涉及的意图损失高达数十亿美元。
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said the cases represent billions in intended losses.
“当医生和其他医疗专业人员——他们曾发誓不伤害患者——却诉诸卑鄙的贪婪和犯罪行为时，这尤为恶劣，”Essayli 说。
“It is especially egregious when doctors and other health care professionals, who pledged to do no harm, resort to petty greed and criminality,” said Essayli.
他补充道：“从我们的私人和公共医疗保险系统中骗取的每一美元，都意味着真正需要帮助的人可用的资金就少一美元。”
“Every dollar drained from our private and public health insurance systems is one less dollar available to those who truly need it,” he added.
根据法庭文件，Maleka 指使手下人通过提供“食品杂货、日用品、家庭水电费支付、处方药费用、免费交通，以及价值约 50 美元至 100 美元的礼品卡”来引诱潜在患者。邻居们说，Malek 以骗子闻名，并用骗来的现金维持奢华生活，包括一队豪车和停在街边拖车上的游艇。他住在一座带有巨大游泳池的 6 卧室豪宅里。“他不是个好人，”一位 Malek 的邻居说。
According to court documents, Maleka ordered his underlings to lure prospective patients by offering them“groceries, household goods, household utility bill payments, prescription drug costs, free transportation, and gift cards valued at approximately $50 to $100.”Neighbors said Malek was known as a crook, and used his cash to fund a high-flying lifestyle, including a fleet of luxury cars and boats he parked in trailers on the street. He lived in a 6-bedroom home with a massive pool. “He was not a nice man,” said one neighbor of Malek.
周四被通缉的其他被告还包括 Nathan Young（39 岁）及其父亲 David Young（71 岁），据指控，他们经营一起涉案金额达 16 亿美元的药物滥用诈骗案，将全美各地的瘾君子贩运到洛杉矶数十家康复中心。
Other defendants sought Thursday included Nathan Young, 39, and his father David Young, 71, who allegedly operated a $1.6 billion substance abuse scam to traffic addicts from around the country to dozens of Los Angeles rehab centers.
检方称，Young 父子指使“中介”以无家可归者和互助小组成员等弱势群体为目标，用毒品引诱他们，并将他们安置在旅馆和“陷阱屋”里。
The Youngs directed “body brokers” to target vulnerable marks, including homeless people and addicts in support groups, plying them with drugs and placing them in hotels and trap houses, according to prosecutors.
其他被起诉的被告还包括涉嫌经营虚假临终关怀项目、参与涉及不必要基因检测的非法医疗回扣计划的诈骗犯。
Other defendants charged included accused fraudsters who operated fake hospice programs and participated in illegal medical kickback schemes involving unneeded genetic testing.
联邦检方还起诉了当地被告，指控他们在三起不同的临终关怀欺诈案中，为并非绝症的患者向联邦医疗保险（Medicare）虚报账单，涉案金额超过 1.4 亿美元。
Federal prosecutors also charged local defendants for allegedly billing Medicare for more than $140 million in three different hospice fraud schemes where the patients were not terminally ill.
另一名被告此前曾因一起 2.7 亿美元的诈骗案被起诉，该案涉及通过提交虚假处方的药房索赔来欺诈 Medi-Cal（加利福尼亚州的医疗补助计划），此次他再次被大陪审团起诉。
Another defendant was indicted after previously being charged in a $270 million scheme to defraud Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, by submitting pharmacy claims for bogus prescriptions.
截至周四下午，此次打击行动已逮捕十名被告，其中包括塔巴伊和两名扬格。联邦当局仍在调查该行动中的所有案件。
As of Thursday afternoon, ten defendants had been arrested in the takedown, including Tabaie and both Youngs. Federal authorities were still investigating all of the cases in the operation.
被捕的涉嫌诈骗者预计将于周四晚些时候在洛杉矶市中心的联邦法院出庭。
The accused fraudsters arrested in the takedown were expected to appear at federal court later Thursday in downtown Los Angeles.
打击欺诈一直是唐纳德·特朗普总统领导下的联邦执法机构的特别优先事项，医疗保健诈骗在全国范围内已成为涉案金额特别巨大的重点打击对象。
Tackling fraud has been a special priority of for federal law enforcement agencies under President Donald Trump, with health care scams emerging nationally as particularly high-dollar targets.
司法部于6月宣布了一项全国性打击行动，在45个美国州和领地（包括加利福尼亚州）指控455名被告涉嫌通过医疗保健诈骗计划窃取65亿美元。
The Justice Department in June announced a national takedown that saw 455 defendants charged with stealing $6.5 billion in alleged healthcare fraud schemes in 45 US states and territories, including California.
加利福尼亚州检方一直在追查大量医疗诈骗案件，联邦官员已予以关注，在对老年人和残疾人项目提出质疑后，暂停了12亿美元的联邦报销款。
California prosecutors have pursued a flood of medical fraud cases here, and federal officials have taken notice, pausing $1.2 billion in federal reimbursements after raising questions about programs for seniors and people with disabilities.
“当数字对不上时，我们不会视而不见，”医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心主任梅赫梅特·奥兹博士周二在宣布该消息时表示。
“When the numbers don’t add up, we don’t look the other way,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in announcing the news Tuesday.
该州此前已面临另一项13亿美元的扣留款，这是5月宣布的，涉及临终关怀和居家护理项目的涉嫌欺诈。
The state already faced a separate $1.3 billion withholding announced in May over suspected fraud in hospice and in-home care programs.