Amid the nationwide crackdown on fraud led by Vice President JD Vance, five people have just been arrested over alleged hospice fraud in Southern California. Last night, sweeping raids took place at ten locations suspected of facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in hospice fraud. This scheme alone stole a whopping $267 million from American taxpayers — and, it’s just the tip of the iceberg! In total, the California DOJ has filed charges against 21 individuals related to the quarter-of-a-billion-dollar ploy  — and five have been taken into custody, so far. CBS News reported further: The California Department of Justice and several state agencies arrested five people Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged hospice fraud ring, and officials said more arrests will come. Several suspects received “notices to appear” in court and will face arrest warrants if they don’t show. In total, the state filed charges against 21 suspects. State Attorney General Rob Bonta said the scheme defrauded California of $267 million through bogus charges to Medi-Cal, the state-administered Medicaid program. Americans pay into Medicare through taxes and premiums, so defrauding it would be essentially stealing from all American taxpayers. “What will address fraud is us doing the hard work — heads down, sleeves rolled up, doing the investigation, doing the arrests, doing the prosecutions, holding folks accountable,” Bonta told CBS News. Bonta said the defendants collected money without providing a single legitimate hospice service. The law enforcement effort, called Operation Skip Trace, targeted ten locations in Southern California. California AG Rob Bonta announced the arrests during a press conference this afternoon. Watch what he had to say here: BREAKING: California AG Rob Bonta announces a major hospice fraud "bust" in Los Angeles County, alleging that the scheme defrauded Medi-Cal of $267 million. "So, just to be clear, a quarter billion dollars…funds that are paid for by Californian taxpayers, funds that are meant… pic.twitter.com/Gc3SwMigr9 — Fox News (@FoxNews) April 9, 2026 BREAKING: California AG Rob Bonta announces a major hospice fraud “bust” in Los Angeles County, alleging that the scheme defrauded Medi-Cal of $267 million. “So, just to be clear, a quarter billion dollars…funds that are paid for by Californian taxpayers, funds that are meant to provide care to Californians in need.” “It is unacceptable. It is illegal, and we will not stand for it.” Fox News has more details on how the scheme operated: “This criminal scheme, this criminal operation, was no accident,” Bonta told reporters at a news conference to announce the arrests. “It wasn’t a case of billing errors, cutting corners, or up-charging care. This was a brazen, calculated criminal scheme that exploited the Medi-Cal system, stole from the State of California and Medicaid, and prevented services and care from going to sick individuals who actually need it.” The probe began with a tip from the state Department of Health Care Services alleging hospice fraud at 14 companies. Bonta’s office investigated the companies and eight people suspected of money laundering. Investigators found that those involved purchased personal identifying information for people living outside of California on the dark web, then enrolled them in Covered California by posing as California residents. “Straw owners” then bought a number of hospice companies and began billing Medi-Cal for services never provided to those stolen identities. The suspects used fake records, nonexistent offices, and fraudulent diagnoses to justify these claims, Bonta said. “Meanwhile, the so-called patients were healthy, out-of-state, and completely unaware that they had been enrolled in hospice care,” he said. During the press conference, California AG Rob Bonta emphasized that this operation is being run by the state — not federal agencies. Watch this: California AG Rob Bonta is out bragging about finally raiding ten locations and arresting five suspects in a Southern California hospice fraud scheme. He made sure to lecture everyone that his office has been on this "for years" and "successfully" long before anyone else cared,… pic.twitter.com/IRiCnXPaSz — Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) April 9, 2026 California AG Rob Bonta is out bragging about finally raiding ten locations and arresting five suspects in a Southern California hospice fraud scheme. He made sure to lecture everyone that his office has been on this “for years” and “successfully” long before anyone else cared, all while stressing it’s a pure California operation from start to finish. What an absolute CROCK. The only reason Bonta is out in front of the cameras today is because independent journalists and Vice President JD Vance exposed the problem in the first place. CA = Con Artists. Notice how the AG said California has been working on this for years… So why are we only seeing a few arrests now? Are they just really bad at their job? Or, perhaps, they were all content to turn a blind eye to the fraud happening right under their noses up until independent journalists like Nick Shirley started drawing attention to it… Which do you think is more likely? Folks on X have some thoughts: “Look at me, I’ve been overlooking and helping fraud for YEARS but because it was found out by OTHERS, I’ll do what demoncrats do, is take credit where credit is NOT DUE” — Making America American Again