Posted on: July 02, 2025 04:20 PM

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11 Defendants indicted in multi billion health care fraud scheme the largest case by loss amount ever charged by the department of Justice

Fifteen individuals, including two pharmacists, have been charged for their participation in schemes in which the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and other health care benefit programs, were fraudulently billed more than $10.6 billion. In one case, dubbed “Operation Gold Rush” by law enforcement, 11 defendants, members of a transnational criminal organization (the Organization) based in Russia and elsewhere, allegedly orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme to steal from the Medicare program and private health insurance companies. The charges filed in the Eastern District of New York are part of the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, a coordinated law enforcement action across the United States led by the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section Health Care Fraud Unit.

United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi; Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Christian J. Schrank, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) announced the charges.

“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,” stated Attorney General 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.”

“As alleged, the defendants perpetrated health care frauds of staggering proportions, victimizing taxpayers and government programs that serve the most vulnerable members of our society,” stated United States Attorney Nocella.  “My Office is working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate and track down, here and abroad, those criminals who treat government funded programs and insurance providers like ATMs, and to hold them accountable for every dollar they brazenly stole.  As for the defendants charged with submitting billions of dollars in phony Medicare claims, that is a health care fraud record they will regret setting.”

Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York and Connecticut Field Offices; Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York; the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces; the New York City Department of Investigation; the New York City Police Department; and the Nassau County Police Department for their invaluable assistance.

“The Criminal Division is intensely committed to rooting out health care fraud schemes and prosecuting the criminals who perpetrate them because these schemes: (1) often result in physical patient harm through medically unnecessary treatments or failure to provide the correct treatments; (2) contribute to our nationwide opioid epidemic and exacerbate controlled substance addiction; and (3) do all of that while stealing money hardworking Americans contribute to pay for the care of their elders and other vulnerable citizens,” stated  Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Division’s Health Care Fraud Unit and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices stand united with our law enforcement partners in this fight, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect the integrity of our health care programs for the American people.”

“This case underscores the relentless commitment of HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners to protecting the integrity of federal health care programs,” stated HHS-OIG Deputy Inspector General Schrank.  “Despite the scope and sophistication of this transnational criminal enterprise, our collaborative efforts helped prevent billions in fraudulent claims from being paid by Medicare. We will continue to work tirelessly across borders and agencies to identify, disrupt, and dismantle those who seek to exploit our health care system and steal from American taxpayers.”

The schemes charged in the Eastern District of New York, detailed in four indictments and one information, are as follows:

Operation Gold Rush:  In the largest health care fraud case by loss amount ever charged by the Department of Justice, Imam Nakhmatullaev, Svjatoslav Jakovlev, Eric Juergens, Jaan Juergens, Ilja Karunas, Juri Karunas, Jason Onoufrienko, Renek Tiku, Vladislav Turaskin, Kevin Valdhans, and Vjatseslav Zogolev were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.  Nakhmatullaev, Jakovlev, Eric Juergens, Jaan Juergens, Onoufrienko, Tiku, Turaskin, Valdhans, and Zogolev were also charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and wire fraud, and Jakovlev, Valdhans, Jaan Juergens, and Onoufrienko were each charged with one count of health care fraud.  As alleged in the indictment, the defendants were members of a transnational criminal organization based in Russia and elsewhere, that orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme to target, exploit, and steal from Medicare.  The Organization purchased dozens of durable medical equipment companies (Scheme DME Companies) that already had the ability to submit claims to Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurers.  The Organization executed these purchases by paying foreign nationals and others to serve as nominee owners of the Scheme DME Companies.  The Organization then created fictitious corporate records that falsely indicated that the nominee owners controlled the Scheme DME Companies when, in fact, they were controlled by the Organization’s foreign-based leadership. After the Organization gained control over the Scheme DME Companies, it rapidly submitted billions of dollars in false and fraudulent health care claims to Medicare.  The Organization did so by stealing the identities and personal identifying information of more than one million Americans in all 50 states, including elderly and disabled Americans.

The Organization submitted over $10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims for DME.  HHS-OIG and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services successfully prevented the Organization from receiving the vast majority of the money that it conspired to steal from Medicare.  The fraudulent scheme nonetheless resulted in payments to Scheme DME Companies from Medicare Supplemental Insurers estimated to be nearly $900 million and Medicare payments to the Scheme DME Companies of approximately $41 million.

As further alleged, the Organization exploited the U.S. financial system.  The Organization leveraged U.S. financial institutions to deposit checks and transfer funds out of accounts.  The health care fraud proceeds were particularly susceptible to laundering because they originated from legitimate sources—Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurers—giving the funds the initial appearance of legitimacy.  The Organization deployed a range of tactics to circumvent the anti-money laundering controls at multiple financial institutions.  To open financial accounts, the Organization armed its nominee owners, many of whom were not lawfully present in the United States, with false documentation reflecting that the nominee owners maintained beneficial ownership and control of the Scheme DME Companies for which they were attempting to open accounts and thereby disguised the true beneficial ownership and control of the entities and the accounts.  Moreover, the use of the Scheme DME Companies’ names to open financial accounts allowed the Organization to benefit from the illusion of legitimate commercial activity within the health care market.  Upon opening the financial accounts, the Organization funneled fraud proceeds from Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurers into the accounts as seemingly “clean” money.  From there, the Organization siphoned off the funds to shell companies and various banks overseas, including banks in China, Singapore, Pakistan, Israel, and Turkey.  To further conceal the money trail, the Organization leveraged cryptocurrency to launder the stolen funds.

The Organization constantly evolved, recruiting new nominee owners, stealing new identities, and acquiring new Scheme DME Companies to replace those shut down by law enforcement.  This evolution was made possible through the Organization’s extensive use of virtual private servers (VPSs) to execute nearly all digital aspects of the scheme. The VPSs allowed the Organization to use a cyberinfrastructure that helped conceal conspirators’ true physical locations, mask Organization IP addresses, and scale fraudulent operations internationally.

Four defendants, Ilja Karunas, Juri Karunas, Erik Juergens, and Renek Tiku were arrested June 25, 2025 in Estonia on these charges, and the United States is seeking their extradition.  The remaining seven defendants are at large.

To date, the government has seized approximately $27.7 million in fraud proceeds as part of Operation Gold Rush, subject to criminal forfeiture and civil forfeiture in a case filed in the District of Connecticut.  The criminal case is being prosecuted by Strike Force Assistant Chiefs Kevin Lowell and Shankar Ramamurthy, and Strike Force Trial Attorneys Leonid Sandlar, Sara Porter, Andres Almendarez, Monica Cooper, Thomas Campbell, Danielle Sakowski, and Matthew Belz.  Trial Attorneys Emily Cohen and Chelsea Rooney of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Nelson of the District of