The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California collected over $317 million in criminal, civil and forfeiture actions in Fiscal Year 2018.

Last year’s collections also include over $235 million worth of assets forfeited to the United States for crimes committed both here and abroad, And $21.2 million was secured through civil enforcement matters in which prosecutors recovered federal funds lost primarily through fraud or other misconduct.

Additionally, the office’s Civil Division worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and colleagues in Washington to collect an additional $162.2 million in civil cases that were pursued in conjunction with these other Justice Department components, a figure that includes a $65 million settlement with Prime Healthcare Services and its chief executive officer to resolve allegations of Medicare fraud.

Prime Healthcare Services, Inc.; Prime Healthcare Foundation, Inc.; Prime Healthcare Management, Inc.; and Prime’s Founder and chief executive officer, Dr. Prem Reddy, agreed to pay the United States the $65 million to settle allegations that 14 Prime hospitals in California knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare by admitting patients who required only less costly, outpatient care and by billing for more expensive patient diagnoses than the patients had (a practice known as “up-coding”).

Prime Healthcare Services and the not-for-profit Prime Healthcare Foundation constitute one of the largest hospital systems in the nation, with 45 acute-care hospitals located in 14 states. It is headquartered in Ontario, California,

The 10 California hospital defendants owned by Prime Healthcare Services are parties to the settlement agreement: Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, Garden Grove Medical Center, La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, Desert Valley Hospital, Chino Valley Medical Center, Paradise Valley Hospital, San Dimas Community Hospital, Shasta Regional Medical Center, West Anaheim Medical Center and Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Four other hospital defendants owned by Prime Healthcare Foundation are also parties to the settlement agreement: Sherman Oaks Hospital, Montclair Hospital Medical Center, Huntington Beach Hospital and Encino Hospital Medical Center. Prime Healthcare Management, a subsidiary of Prime Healthcare Services, provides management, consulting and support services to hospitals owned and operated by Prime.

“We are focused on securing restitution for crime victims, recovering taxpayer money obtained by fraud, and stripping criminals of their ill-gotten gains,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “The hundreds of millions of dollars we recovered in 2018 stand as a tribute to the tenacity and hard work of our prosecutors and staff.”

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California is based in Los Angeles and has branch offices in Santa Ana and Riverside. Currently, approximately 275 Assistant United States Attorneys serve about 20 million people who reside in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.