Oren Shachar arraigned in $26.9 million Medicare fraud case

Oren David Shachar and two associates, Abraham Shin and Jeannie Choi, have been arraigned in a federal court in Los Angeles following a 16-count indictment involving a massive hospice fraud scheme. Prosecutors allege the defendants controlled four Southern California hospice providers that submitted approximately $27.7 million in false claims to Medicare.

According to the indictment, Medicare allegedly paid out roughly $26.9 million, representing about 97 percent of the total amount claimed. The scheme reportedly involved enrolling individuals who were not terminally ill, providing cash and gifts to maintain beneficiary participation, and using the personal information of deceased Medicare recipients to create backdated hospice records.

Shachar and Shin have entered not-guilty pleas and were released on bond. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.