This week, twelve New Yorker’s were charged with Medicare fraud, which investigators contend was responsible for almost $100 million worth of false Medicare claims. Of those, eleven have been arrested as of last week. Those involved were not all related and were made up of three different groups.

Of those arrested, six were part of a group that operated in Flushing, Queens, who were alleged to be responsible for $12 million worth of fraudulent Medicare claims. These individuals, who included one person who was 85 years old, offered a number of treatments to clients, like massages and other spa like treatments. However, they were billed to Medicare as physical therapy sessions. It was also alleged that in exchange for Medicare account numbers, the defendants would provide free lunches and dance classes. They would then use the Medicare numbers when making fraudulent claims.

In Staten Island, one of the defendants, a fifty-six year old osteopathy doctor named Emma Poroger, allegedly billed Medicare for services like sleep studies, vitamin infusion treatment, and other tests, which were never performed. She is accused of around $13 million in Medicare Fraud.

However, the bulk of the Medicare Fraud allegedly came from a group of five individuals from Brooklyn, who attempted to launder around $70 million generated from Fraudulent Medicare claims. They allegedly used Medicare recipient names to bill for services that were never actually performed, offering money to those whose names were used. This same Medical group, Bay Medical Care, had previously been charged with defrauding Medicare to the tune of $72 million back in 2010.