A crackdown targeting fake hospices led to the arrest this week of multiple fraudsters, including high-rolling psychologist Gladwin Gill.
Based in Southern California, the federal operation, “Operation Never Die,” found that Gill, 66, and his wife, nurse Amelou Gill, 70, ran a fake hospice, 626 Hospice Inc., that did business as St. Francis Palliative Care, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Gill and his wife were formally arrested Thursday morning at their mansion in Covina, California.
“In coordination with @VP’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, eight defendants… have been arrested on federal charges that they schemed to defraud the nation’s health care system out of more than $50 million.” https://t.co/22uBFOsPIH
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 2, 2026
“The Gills allegedly schemed to defraud Medicare by paying illegal kickbacks for the referral of patients who were not dying,” the DOJ reported. “The Gills also submitted more than $5.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services that either were not medically necessary or were not provided.”
“Medicare paid the Gills more than $4 million on these fraudulent claims. They then laundered the scheme’s proceeds and spent their ill-gotten gains on personal expenses such as mortgage payments, car payments, international flights, restaurants, and personal bills,” the report continued.
According to the New York Post, Gill enjoyed flaunting his high-rolling lifestyle on social media by, as an example, “posting photos alongside celebrities like Mario Lopez, George Clooney, President George W. Bush and Salt Bae.”
George Clooney with 66-year-old psychiatrist Gladwin Gill. Gill, who is at the center of a series of federal raids targeting health care fraud, flaunted his life of luxury online while he allegedly bilked millions of dollars from taxpayers.
Gladwin Gill, and his wife, Amelou,… pic.twitter.com/ZXzYPfM7pd
— Saint James Hartline (@JamesHartline) April 2, 2026
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli told the Post that he had his eyes on Gill as early as 2022, when the fraudster posed with philanthropist Leigh Steinberg at a Super Bowl party.
The problem was that the then-Biden administration had zero interest in prosecuting fraudsters like Gill.
“Nothing happened with these cases,” Essayli said. “Nothing’s happened with fraud under the prior administration, and you’ll have to ask them why, but presumably, it just wasn’t a priority.”
“It’s all total fraudulent hospice services,” he said in a separate statement to Fox News, according to The National Desk. “They were signing out people who were not terminally ill. They were forging the documents, the medical records.”
Unlike their predecessors, Trump administration officials are highly focused on taking down fraudsters.
“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for criminals who defraud American taxpayers,” Essayli told CBS News. “The defendants arrested this morning, who are charged with stealing millions of dollars of health care benefits, got caught and now face years in federal prison.”
Our task force isn’t wasting any time cracking down on fraud.
This morning in the LA area, federal law enforcement is taking down fraudsters who stole $50M+ from Americans by defrauding our healthcare and hospice systems.
Thanks to @DrOzCMS and @USAttyEssayli for their work. https://t.co/6rT6rm38rL
— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 2, 2026
Fox News notes that an anti-fraud task force being led by Vice President JD Vance has already led to 221 hospice and healthcare providers in California being suspended.
“The Administration’s War on Fraud once again yields results as more suspensions take place and fraudsters face justice for ripping off hard-working Americans and stealing their tax dollars and social services,” a spokesperson for the VP said.
“The Vice President and his task force are proud of these latest figures and expect to see this number continue to grow dramatically,” they added.
WATCH: CBS Evening News is the only network evening newscast to report on the early morning FBI raid in California, after the discovery of massive hospice fraud.
TONY DOKOUPIL: CBS News is first to report the arrest today of a married couple in Southern California accused of… pic.twitter.com/hSAWuv14Zx
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 3, 2026
There’s a lot of focus, especially on California.
“We need to get serious and we don’t see that happening in California,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, said. “The ecosystem is rotten.”
“We’ve uncovered lots of other derivatives that happen when you don’t take care of this problem in the way it needs to be done,” he added.
Journalist Christopher Rufo appeared to blame all the fraud on leftist California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Every criminal group saw that Gavin Newsom was opening the floodgates of state spending,” he said. “They could take whatever they wanted and he’s losing now an estimated, up to $50 billion a year to fraud.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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