Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has drawn attention to fraud investigations recently.
The Justice Department has charged two owners of an adult day care center in New York for allegedly defrauding Medicare and Medicaid to the tune of $120 million.
The department’s criminal complaint, announced on Feb. 9, alleges that Inwoo Kim and Daniel Lee bribed Medicare and Medicaid recipients to submit false claims to the programs for services at their day care center, as well as an unnamed pharmacy, so they could bill the government and collect taxpayer money for services not provided.
Kim and Lee, both from Queens, New York, were charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with a felony of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
“Today’s complaint targets those who prey upon the vulnerable so they can steal from American taxpayers and defraud government programs meant to help the public,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division wrote in a statement.
After filing charges on Feb. 5, the government seized $900,000 worth of Lee’s assets that it said were “fraud proceeds.” It has sought to detain him pending trial, stating that he is a “serious risk of flight and poses a danger to the community through attempted witness intimidation,” according to a Feb. 6 court filing.
Lee is a naturalized U.S. citizen and dual citizen of Korea, which created a risk that he might flee the country, the government argued.
Kim, by contrast, was released on a $250,000 bond and ordered not to leave New York City and Long Island. He was also appointed legal counsel by the court.
Medicare and Medicaid are two government-run health insurance programs created in 1965. Medicare provides coverage to senior citizens and disabled persons, while Medicaid covers low-income Americans.
In 2024, the federal government spent a total of more than $2 trillion on both programs, which are administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Dr. Mehmet Oz has led the agency since April 2025, in the second Trump administration.
Oz has drawn attention to Medicare and Medicaid fraud during his tenure.
By Arjun Singh
