California Fraud Alert, II: Orange County Man Pleads Guilty to Medi-Cal Fraud Scheme That Paid Out Over $269 Million

RedState: Federal prosecutors say an Orange County man used California’s Medi-Cal system to run nearly $270 million in fraudulent billings through the state’s Medicaid program, collecting more than $178 million before he was caught. Paul Richard Randall, 66, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Over 11 months, he ran the scheme through Monte Vista Pharmacy, billing Medi-Cal for expensive drugs that patients didn’t need and, in many cases, never received.

“This defendant used a public health program as his personal piggy bank,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. Randall and his partners used Monte Vista Pharmacy to charge Medi-Cal tens of millions of dollars per month for drugs made from cheap generic ingredients but billed at premium rates.

The prescriptions came with kickbacks attached, and in many cases, the drugs were never handed to patients…. What Randall pulled off wasn’t an isolated trick. It fits a pattern investigators had already been watching across California’s healthcare system, one that got worse on Newsom’s watch as the provider rolls swelled and the warnings piled up, ignored.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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