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I'm Matthew Galiotti, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. Today we announce the largest coordinated health care fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice. We are announcing charges against three twenty four defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $14,600,000,000 in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid and other health care programs. In a takedown this large, I can't possibly describe all of the work that went into dismantling each scheme. But there are four key points that bear emphasizing.
First, these health care fraud schemes mean for every hardworking American family. These criminals didn't just steal someone else's money. They stole from you. Every fraudulent claim, every fake billing, every kickback scheme represents money taken directly from the pockets of American taxpayers who fund these essential programs through their hard work and sacrifice. And when criminals defraud these programs, they're not just committing theft. They're driving up our national deficit and threatening the long term viability of health care for seniors, disabled Americans and our most vulnerable citizens. This enforcement action involves the seizure of cash as well as luxury vehicles and properties returning real money to American taxpayers and to our government health care programs.
Second, we are seeing a disturbing trend of transnational criminal organizations engaging in increasingly sophisticated and complex criminal schemes that defraud the American health care system. As part of this takedown, we've identified and charged defendants operating from Russia, Eastern Europe, Pakistan and other foreign countries. As just one example, we dismantled a scheme involving a sophisticated operation run from Russia and Eastern Europe that strategically bought dozens of medical supply companies in The United States and submitted more than $10,000,000,000 in fraudulent health care claims to Medicare. To make matters worse, these perpetrators used the stolen identities of more than 1,000,000 Americans spanning all 50 states to perpetrate this scheme and submit these false claims. But I'm pleased to report that federal agents intercepted and arrested key members of that organization at US airports and The US Mexico border, cutting off their intended escape routes. The days of transnational criminal organizations using the American health care programs as their personal piggy bank are over.
Third, this takedown resulted in criminal charges against 74 defendants, including medical professionals who fueled America's deadly opioid crisis for personal profit. These are not isolated instances of poor judgment. These are calculated schemes designed to exploit Americans struggling with addiction while enriching the very people who were duty bound to help them heal. We charged pill mill operators who prescribed unnecessary opioids. We dismantled networks of corrupt pharmacies that existed solely to distribute drugs to addicts and dealers, feeding the addiction crisis that has devastated so many American communities.
Fourth, many of the defendants charged as part of this takedown specifically targeted our most vulnerable citizens, elderly Americans in nursing homes, individuals with disabilities, those battling illnesses, and more. For example, our prosecutors charged seven defendants, including five medical professionals, in connection with approximately $1,000,000,000 in fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health care benefit programs for performing medically unnecessary skin grass on dying patients as they were seeking to spend their final days with dignity and peace. That conduct is exactly as callous and disturbing as it sounds. Patients and their families trusted these providers with their lives. Instead of receiving care, they became victims of elaborate criminal schemes.