U.S. Attorney’s Office Participates in Record-Setting National Health Care Fraud Takedown

            WASHINGTON – Today, United States Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the criminal charges brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia against defendants in multiple cases in connection with the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, an initiative aimed at alleged schemes to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and other health care programs that receive federal tax dollars.

            The larger, nationwide Takedown involved federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country and represents an unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit patients and taxpayers.

            “Health care fraud costs this country billions of taxpayer dollars every year,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “This office fights rigorously, every day to uncover the fraud and abuse that steal precious resources from programs like these. To the thieves who are engaging in these fraud schemes: you think you’ve discovered how to walk away with free money; but we will find you and you will walk away with a new label - ‘convicted felon’.”  

            “This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”

            Demonstrating the significant return on investment that results from health care fraud enforcement efforts, the government seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets as part of the coordinated enforcement efforts. As part of the whole-of-government approach to combating health care fraud announced today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also announced that it successfully prevented over $4 billion from being paid in response to false and fraudulent claims and that it suspended or revoked the billing privileges of 205 providers in the months leading up to the Takedown. Civil charges against 20 defendants for $14.2 million in alleged fraud, as well as civil settlements with 106 defendants totaling $34.3 million, were also announced as part of the Takedown.

            Today’s Takedown was led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and its core partners from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The cases were investigated by agents from HHS-OIG, FBI, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies. The cases are being prosecuted by Health Care Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, 50 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, and 12 State Attorneys General Offices.

            "Defrauding the American health care system is not a victimless crime," said Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen of the FBI Washington Field Office. "It raises health insurance premiums, exposes patients to unnecessary medical procedures, and can lead to identity theft. Every dollar stolen is one fewer that's available to pay for needed care. The FBI will continue our relentless pursuit of those committing health care fraud and hold them accountable for their crimes."

            “The scale of today’s Takedown is unprecedented, and so is the harm we’re confronting. Individuals who attempt to steal from the federal health care system and put vulnerable patients at risk will be held accountable,” said HHS-OIG Acting Inspector General Juliet T. Hodgkins. “Our agents at HHS-OIG work relentlessly to detect, investigate, and dismantle these fraud schemes. We are proud to stand with our law enforcement partners in protecting taxpayer dollars and safeguarding patient care.”

            The following individuals were charged in the District of Columbia:

            Amstrong Chapajong, of Cheverly, Maryland, is charged with one count of health care fraud in connection with an overlapping billing scheme that allegedly defrauded the District of Columbia’s Medicaid program. As alleged in the information, from March 2020 to January 2022, Chapajong, while working as both a personal care aide and community support worker, fraudulently claimed to provide in-home personal care and behavioral health services to multiple clients in different locations at the same time. Additionally, Chapajong’s Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) data most often showed he was not in the vicinity of his client’s homes, where he purported to be providing services. In total, Medicaid paid $461,369 for Chapajong’s shifts with overlapping hours.

            Michelle Shropshire, of Maryland, and Harlisha Jones, of Maryland and Washington, DC, both employed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) were charged by indictment with health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy charges for allegedly using Jones’s insurance policies with American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (AFLAC) to submit fraudulent health care and short-term disability insurance claims for injuries, medical treatments, and disability periods that did not exist. The indictment alleges that as part of the scheme defendants created fraudulent medical paperwork, including medical excuse notes and physician’s statements, and forged doctors’ signatures on those forms. Then, after AFLAC paid each claim to Jones, she paid a kickback to Shropshire using a portion of the claim proceeds. As a result of those fraudulent insurance claims, AFLAC paid Jones approximately $58,750, of which Jones paid approximately 20% back to Shropshire.

            Similarly, in addition to Jones, Shropshire is alleged to have assisted a number of other WMATA employees with submitting fraudulent health care and short-term disability insurance claims to AFLAC, which paid at least $362,035 in benefits based upon the false claims. Of those other WMATA employees, the following have been charged by information and have pled guilty to charges involving the scheme and paying kickbacks to Shropshire: Sharon Washington of Virginia, and Selethia Blake, Brady Turner, Lushawn Foreman, and Margot Jackson, all of Maryland.

            These cases, in particular, were investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The Shropshire case was also investigated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Office of Inspector General. U.S. v Chapajong was also investigated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the D.C. Office of the Inspector General’s (DC-OIG) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

            In addition to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Health Care Fraud Unit’s National Rapid Response, Florida, Gulf Coast, Los Angeles, Midwest, New England, Northeast, and Texas Strike Forces includes U.S. Attorneys Offices from around the nation; and State Attorney Generals’ Offices for Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are prosecuting the cases in the National Health Care Fraud Takedown, with assistance from the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team. Descriptions of each case involved in today’s enforcement action are available on the Department of Justice website.

            A complaint, information, or indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.