Bob Bonta gets into the hospice fraud game

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And very happy Friday to you.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: At twelve oh seven in the West, it's the John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wings in Culver City.

00:00:07
Speaker 3: John California's Attorney General, Bob Bonta. Bob Bonta is finally getting in on the hospice fraud game, announcing a massive bust. Yesterday, he sat down with CBS News is Adam Yamagucci, armed with the facts and of course a bucket full of cliches.

00:00:25
Speaker 4: Well, well, I address frod is us doing the hard work, heads down, sleeves, rolled up, doing the investigation, doing the arrests, doing the prosecutions.

00:00:34
Speaker 1: Boy, this guy has one speed, doesn't he.

00:00:37
Speaker 4: Every type of leadership is about meeting the moment and rising to the occasion. And this is what's required, and so we're stepping up and getting it done.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: You know what this reminds me of. What's that if you have a kid and the bedroom is a complete disaster, and you say, Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to work and when I come back, this room better be spotless. And if the room isn't spotless, your ass is on the line. And then you go to work and you come back and the room is a disaster, and you go, what the hell happened to the room that was supposed to be clean? And they go, I was just getting to that. That was next on my list. And that's essentially what he's saying about the fraud. It was those in the media that uncovered it in the first place, Nick Shirley in CBS News. They embarrassed everyone. It was the FEDS that acted on it. The Feds had started making arrests and they shamed Rob Bonta for not doing his job.

00:01:50
Speaker 1: And then Rob Bonta comes.

00:01:51
Speaker 2: Out of the woodwork and goes, you guys are Johnny come Lately's We've been working on this forever?

00:01:57
Speaker 5: Who's Rob?

00:01:59
Speaker 1: That's true? Stand corrected?

00:02:01
Speaker 2: Bought Bonta eight hundred two two two five two two two is the jellphone number one? Eight hundred two two two five two two two. Well, we know that the presumptive front runner on the Democratic side of the race for the to see who will be California's next governor, Eric Swawell, is in some hot water regarding allegations of sexual harassment from women who worked in his office as staffers and interns. People whose names have not been associated with the claims. But there is an attorney, a Democratic attorney, former candidate for office, who is the one that's leading the charge, saying that she's talking to many of these women, their stories are being vetted, and the clock is ticking as to when these stories will be made open to the public. There was massive speculation, including from yours truly, that today would be the day that those stories dropped. While the day is only halfway over. Those stories have not dropped yet. But Randy, there is a lot of movement going on regarding that story.

00:03:07
Speaker 5: You cursed us by saying it was going to be today.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: Whatever I tease ahead, that is the absolute kiss of death.

00:03:14
Speaker 3: Doesn't matter if it's for a guest or a major news story that's about to drop. Don't tease ahead anyway. The attorney who is bringing forth the upcoming allegations is Cheyenne Hunt, and she's the one that's been making all kinds of waves about this, saying that the women are coming forward speaking to her and they are getting vetted by reporters as we speak. Well forty five minutes ago, she posted the following I am reading from Chyenne Hunt's Twitter account x at Cheyenne Hunt ca Eric Swalwell has taken a page out of the Trump playbook by attempting to silence women. Today we learned he is intimidating survivor serving cease and desist letters on those coming forward with stories of sexual harassment and abuse. Wait a second, if you're sending cease and desist letters, then you must know who.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: The people are. It sounds like he does.

00:04:16
Speaker 3: He sent this threat in the dead of night, another attempt to delay the truth. And by the way, wasn't he supposed to be in a town hall in the Coachella Valley yesterday and that got canceled.

00:04:28
Speaker 2: Yes, he was supposed to be in Palm Desert with Raoul Ruiz, who's the congressman from Palm Desert.

00:04:34
Speaker 1: They were going to have.

00:04:36
Speaker 2: A forum in front of a friendly audience, and he canceled at the very last minute and said he was sick and that's why he couldn't be there. Mind you, he's been having public events all week. He's looked fine, and he's been very active on social media clapping back at people who've been going after him. All of a sudden, we're going to see a post room saying he got the new coronavirus. Hey, maybe he got a VD from Tokyo Rose.

00:05:04
Speaker 3: Let me continue here. He sent this in the dead of night, another attempt to delay the truth, deny the allegations, question the women's motives suggest a conspiracy. This is what it looks like when powerful men get caught. These cease and desists are a disgusting abuse of power against brave women who are courageously working together to share their stories. It begs the question, if Swalwell has done nothing wrong, as his campaign claims, why not let the women tell their stories in the light of day. Our team remains steadfast. We will not relent. The women will not recant. They continue to work with legal to support to protect themselves while sharing their accounts of Swalwell's pattern of predatory behavior and abuse. I am impatient. The women are impatient, but we trust this process. Their stories will be out soon. And then she attached the first page of a cease and DESSSS that she got from Eric Swalwell.

00:06:04
Speaker 1: Oh my, can you read the letter? Is the type big enough?

00:06:09
Speaker 3: I can try so they redact a couple of things on here, But this comes from a law office debate. Kelly in Los Angeles This law firm is litigation counsel to Congressman Eric Swalwell. It has come to our attention that you have made false statements accusing mister Swalwell of sexual assault. Wait a second, she hasn't said that.

00:06:37
Speaker 2: Nope, she's only said sexual harassment. Yesterday on CNN, Katie Porter said sexual assault. And that's the first time we've heard that.

00:06:46
Speaker 6: You can smell it right here.

00:06:49
Speaker 3: It has come to our attention that you have made false statements accusing mister Swalwell of sexual assault and non consensual sexual and hunters including redacted. Oh boy, I want to know what that is.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: Oh is there any way to get rid of that black paint and see what's under there?

00:07:12
Speaker 5: No, I don't think we can do that.

00:07:14
Speaker 3: We write to demand that you immediately and permanently cease and desist from continuing your wrongful conduct, including by stopping any further publication of such false information or allowing it to be disseminated in any form, whether oral, written, electronic, or otherwise. Mister Swallwell takes these accusations seriously, both because they are false and because they are being injected into California's gubernatorial race only twenty four days before the voters go to the polls. Well, the elections actually in June, but everyone gets their ballots in may the timing and pattern of your own conduct speak for themselves and demonstrate the falsity of your claims. It also demons that you were acting with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth, and therefore are subject to liability for deformation per se under governing law. And then they quote a law it where a statement concerning a public official supports a judgment for defamation if the statement is made with knowledge that it was false and with reckless disregard of the truth. That's page one of this cease and desist, And the big takeaway from that one is it's Swalwell's attorneys claiming that Cheyenne Hunt alleged a sexual assault and that's not something that we have heard because we haven't heard any of the details yet.

00:08:38
Speaker 2: No, and we certainly haven't heard that word coming from her or anyone affiliated with her.

00:08:44
Speaker 1: We've only heard it.

00:08:45
Speaker 2: From Swalwell himself or I guess his attorney speaking on his behalf, and from Katie Porter, who is another candidate for office. One of Swalwell's rivals on that primary ballot.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: Now, it is worth noting that Cheyenne Hunt is a Katie Porter supporter, and I think she went to UCI and she supported her in twenty twenty four for her Senate race.

00:09:10
Speaker 2: And then yesterday we learned from some of the victims I believe it may have even been Cheyenne, that Swalwell was also spending money on opposition research on the women. So that means he's trying to find out if they've ever had a dy in the past, if they've ever been criminally convicted of something in the past, ever been accused of cheating at a university they have attended, ever had a restraining order taken out against them, that sort of thing. So that way they can go to these women and they can go, hey, here's the deal. You had a DUI two years ago. If you want to bring out these allegations, we're going to try to destroy your credibility by bringing that up, and we're going to drag your reputation through the mud. Do you really want to do this?

00:09:59
Speaker 3: Now it comes to the other candidates in this race, the knives are out for Swalwell. Just a few minutes ago, right before we got on the air. Tony Thurman, who was on this show the other day, is pulling at zero percent according to the latest poll. He replied to shy en Ton's tweet and posted a video that shows Eric Swalwell in his own words, talking about the whole Brett Kevanaugh situation years ago, saying, maybe Eric Swalwell should take Eric Swalwell's own advice. I will play that for you right now off of Tony Thurman's Twitter. That's the typing saying Eric Swawell's advice for Brett Kavanaugh.

00:10:42
Speaker 7: I saw a continued demeaning of victims.

00:10:46
Speaker 3: Okay, this is neither here nor there, but Swalwell's much fatter now than he was in twenty eighteen.

00:10:53
Speaker 1: I wonder if he was doing orange theory back then.

00:10:55
Speaker 7: Sexual assault people who deserve to be heard, who deserve for the allegations to be investigated. For Brett Kavanaugh's sake, if he is innocent, I hope tomorrow he opens his statement and says, you know what, bring in all the victims, allow them to be heard, allow them to be questioned. That will clear his name. If he's indeed innocent, and if he's not, for the sake of the credibility of the court. I hope that the Senators would vote against him.

00:11:22
Speaker 3: And that says Eric Swahwall gave advice to Brett Kavanaugh. I hate typewriter's sound effects.

00:11:27
Speaker 2: I would imagine that you're going to be able to find similar statements about Donald Trump, similar statements about Jeffrey Epstein, similar statements about any number of people who are in the news. Where Eric Swalwell, like Galvin Newsom, believes that the laws apply to everyone else but not to him.

00:11:47
Speaker 3: Will he take that advice for himself? And that is the video that Tony Thurman put out seven minutes ago. Okay, so are you ready for my theory on why he's doing this?

00:11:59
Speaker 1: Please? I don't think he actually.

00:12:02
Speaker 2: Believes he's going to intimidate these women out of coming forward, because I think the old days of bullying the accusers, are bullying the press and keeping a negative story away from the public are over.

00:12:20
Speaker 1: In the old days, you could get away with that.

00:12:23
Speaker 2: If it wasn't printed in the New York Times or the Washington Post or on one of the networks, it didn't happen. And if you had pull one of those newspapers, you could keep it out of those papers and you're fine. You could continue your career without a scandal blowing it up. But I think those days are over, in part because of technology and the proliferation of media. It's not just those legacy papers that get to say what is going on in the world and what is news. If you don't like what you're hearing, or if the New York Times decides they're going to shut you down and they're not going to print your story, well guess what. You can go to Fox News. You can go to Newsmax, you can go to some newspaper that is online only. You can write your own book, you can have your own thread on Twitter. In theory, all of us are reporters to one degree or another. You could self publish your own story if you want to, and if enough people retweet it or talk about it or comment on it, it's going to get in front of a lot of eyeballs. So I don't think Eric Swoalwell believes that by sending these letters out, these attorney letters threatening these women, that he's going to prevent them from telling their story. These stories are going to come out and the people of California are going to know the details that I am very confident of. Why is he doing it?

00:13:59
Speaker 1: Then?

00:14:00
Speaker 2: I think it's all related to timing because think about this. We have ballots that are going out, what the first week of May something like that. The ballots will be in your mailbox the first week of now. Okay, So if Swallwell blows up now and the campaign totally implodes, then his supporters have an opportunity to find some other place to go. They can go to Styer, they can go to Porter, they can go to Viragosi, Bis, Sarah Thurman, Yee Mayhan, one of the Republicans, whomever, one of the third party candidates. They can find another candidate to vote for. If he delays this, and these women are not allowed to tell their story until let's say a week or two into voting, that he is going to bank a bunch of votes because look at the institutions that are behind him, California Teachers Association, the SCIU, basically, the California Democratic Congressional delegation, and US Senator Adam Scheff, which means he is going to bank a ton of votes from the most reliable partisan Democratic voters. If this story blows up a week or two after voting, the Democrats are in a real pickbull.

00:15:37
Speaker 1: What do you do.

00:15:39
Speaker 2: Do you turn on this guy and cut bait, knowing he's already banked millions of votes, or do you say to yourself, if we turn on him, we are giving this office to a Republican. So even though we don't like what's being said about him, we're in bed with him and we have to stay married to him because otherwise we lose the governorship. If he can hold on and keep this story private until the voting has already started, he has a sort of damocles to hold over the Democratic Party, and he can go to them and say, if you turn on me, it's mutually assured destruction. You kill me off, I kill off your chances at winning the governorship. So either you stick with me or we all lose. And under those circumstances, politicians have been able to survive. Go back to that governor of Virginia, the one that was caught with the blackface, Remember when everyone thought he was dead and he just said, hey, I'm the one that gets to sign or vetail your legislation and I'm not going in anywhere.

00:17:00
Speaker 1: Are we going to.

00:17:01
Speaker 2: Play ball or not? And they had to bend the knee for him. But what he did was he just waited it out because eventually the news media moves on to other things as salacious as this story will be. And oh boy, there is going to be a hurricane of coming and he's going to be at the eye of it. If he can just make sure the timing works for him as opposed to against him, he might be able to keep the Democratic Party behind him. And I think that's what he's trying to do here. And if this story was supposed to break today like all of us thought it was, and he was able to delay it, he might be onto something here.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: We'll see.

00:17:55
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00:18:35
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00:19:21
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00:19:26
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00:19:27
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00:20:05
Speaker 1: Well.

00:20:06
Speaker 2: The Democrats are trying to figure out when the shoe is going to drop with Eric Swalwell. The Republicans are meeting for their annual convention in San Diego.

00:20:15
Speaker 3: For more on the GOP convention and who they may be nominating or who they may be endorsing, here is ABC ten in Sacramento.

00:20:28
Speaker 6: This weekend. In San Diego, the California Republican Party is gathering to decide which candidates to endorse ahead of the primary in June. The key race is the race for California governor.

00:20:38
Speaker 8: ABC ten State Matters political reporter Jenny Hudg joins US Now with a preview of what to expect.

00:20:44
Speaker 6: Jenny, Well, if.

00:20:45
Speaker 8: You remember In February, California Democrats had their endorsement convention. No governor candidate got enough votes for the official party endorsement.

00:20:53
Speaker 1: That's right, and Betty He came in second.

00:20:57
Speaker 3: Swaball got first place, but still it wasn't enough to get the endorsement.

00:21:01
Speaker 5: Betty Yer came in second.

00:21:03
Speaker 3: Kat Portur, who had that profanity filled stunt with the whiteboard, came in fifth place.

00:21:10
Speaker 9: Winter Winter Chicken Dinner.

00:21:15
Speaker 8: The big question now for Republicans, now that President Trump has weighed in on the race, will that help elevate one of the two leading Republican candidates. Does the endorsement make the likelihood of two Republicans advancing to November less likely?

00:21:29
Speaker 10: Well, I didn't think it was very likely to begin with. I think it's even less likely.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: You know.

00:21:33
Speaker 11: Now, I'm not sure it helps Republicans because they you know, they were It was a very small chance, but it was a chance.

00:21:40
Speaker 5: Not a whole lot of people thinking Trump for this endorsement.

00:21:43
Speaker 2: No, because even though it was a small chance of getting two Republicans on the November ballot, which I still think is possible.

00:21:53
Speaker 1: It's better than no chance.

00:21:55
Speaker 2: And if there's a Democrat who's not Eric Swalwell with all kinds of problems versus a Republican. The Democrat is going to win and they're not gonna have to spend any money here.

00:22:06
Speaker 11: I'm not sure it helps Republicans because they you know, they were It was a very small chance, but it was a chance.

00:22:11
Speaker 12: Nonetheless, ahead of the California Republican parties turning the Tide Together convention this weekend, there's a major shakeup in the race to succeed Governor Gavin Newsom. President Donald Trump endorsing former Fox News host Steve Hilton over Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, both the leading Republicans and the crowded race for governor.

00:22:29
Speaker 7: It's a great honor and I very much appreciate it, and I think it's a moment that we can actually step up what's already been happening in the governor's race, which is a consolidation.

00:22:39
Speaker 3: By the way, did you see that Hilton's campaign is sending out to all the delegates these mailers that say, don't trust BLM Bianco.

00:22:49
Speaker 1: I think he's got a website too.

00:22:51
Speaker 13: On the Republican side, kind of, I would say I was disappointed. If I had an ego it would it would hurt, but I don't. Of course, I would want the endorsement of the President of the United States.

00:23:01
Speaker 3: And he really thought that stunt with the seizing of the ballots was going to lock it in, but it did not. Hey, John Cox thought of stunt with a bear would lock it in for him?

00:23:12
Speaker 12: Would the Democratic vote split among several candidates. One lingering concern has been this, could Hilton and Bianco both advanced to November, shutting Democrats out of the race. Entirely less likely now, experts say, And they add, if Hilton consolidates the Republican vote, great for him in the primary, not so much in the general against a likely Democrat.

00:23:31
Speaker 2: Here is what's so wild. This I do not understand. And it shows you how Republicans in this state have battered spouse syndrome. You talk to any Republican who's involved with party politics and you go, hey, how about two Republicans making it to the November ballot. No, that'll never happen. That's a pipe dream. Stop thinking that way not going to work. And then you talk to the Democrats and they go, oh my god, we have pulling all over the place and says that that's the most likely scenario. We're pulling our hair out over here, worried that that's what's going to happen. And it just goes to show you how when you're not used to winning elections, you find every imaginable way to lose. It's like you finally end up with a scenario that could result in your side winning, and you fall all over yourself three stooges style to put up every barrier to make sure that doesn't happen.

00:24:34
Speaker 5: It is the California Republican Party after all.

00:24:38
Speaker 12: By Mary not so much in the general against a likely Democrat.

00:24:42
Speaker 11: That ends up hurting them because he's not going to win statewide. It basically does the Democrats.

00:24:47
Speaker 3: And by the way, all the people they're talking to are Republican consultants to say, yet, Hilton's done if he makes the runoff.

00:24:53
Speaker 2: These are the most negative people on planet Earth. And they're also the same people who say, yet to Republicans in the runoff, that's not going to work.

00:25:02
Speaker 1: We just need to lose this way because we're used to doing that.

00:25:06
Speaker 5: It's the Senate race all over again.

00:25:08
Speaker 3: Steve Garvey makes it past June and then everybody stops campaigning, including Garvy.

00:25:15
Speaker 2: You know I have said this before. I don't think there would be a big difference in terms of how many homeless people lived on the streets if we spent zero dollars on homeless services as opposed to the billions that we spend now. I also don't believe Republicans would lose any more elections in California if they spent zero dollars on consultants.

00:25:41
Speaker 5: But that's a whole ecosystem.

00:25:43
Speaker 3: This is how a ball, whole bunch of political hacks make their living is by convincing people to spend money on campaigns that they themselves believe they will lose.

00:25:52
Speaker 2: You spend a fortune on some negative Nancy who's going to tell you you're going to lose, and he's going to tell you the easiest way to lose the election.

00:26:02
Speaker 11: That ends up hurting him because he's not going to win statewide, basically does the Democrats. So one of the biggest favors.

00:26:08
Speaker 12: Some Democratic opponents weigh in following a one stay candidate four him at Sacramento to me having the president.

00:26:15
Speaker 5: Under say it's Betty Yee.

00:26:18
Speaker 2: And she's not wearing the gas mask because she's not at the Tiajuana River.

00:26:22
Speaker 6: You can smell it right here to me.

00:26:25
Speaker 9: Having the President adors Steve Hilton, that's the juncture.

00:26:28
Speaker 3: Now since the convention for the GOP is in San Diego, do you think Hilton and Bianca are going to take a trip down to the river only if they lose a bed.

00:26:37
Speaker 9: To me, having the President adors Steve Hilton, that's the juncture. But he put some marker down in terms of you know where mister Hilton support is going to come from that the President wants to play in this race.

00:26:48
Speaker 11: I imagine that in some ways this make.

00:26:50
Speaker 5: Hey, that's Tony Thurman.

00:26:51
Speaker 3: He was a recent guest on this show, and the day after he had a poll that showed that he's at zero percent.

00:26:57
Speaker 2: Well, maybe after doing this show he'll be at one or two. The Phillips bump.

00:27:03
Speaker 11: I imagine that in some ways this may consolidate in the Republican side of this campaign.

00:27:09
Speaker 6: There will be one and that one will pay.

00:27:12
Speaker 3: It's other recent guests of this show, mister Peanot.

00:27:15
Speaker 2: And by the way, the Phillips bump is usually associated with doing drugs with the Mamas and the papas.

00:27:24
Speaker 6: There will be one, and that one will probably lead in the race. Remember I said that to you.

00:27:29
Speaker 12: The big question heading into the weekend is the party going to unite? Republican strategist Tim Roselle says, for now, it's.

00:27:35
Speaker 3: You know, the California Republicans can really take a note from the California Democrats. You all might want to be a little more delulu.

00:27:43
Speaker 2: Well, all they need to do is divide by two. Take all of your people, divide them by two, give half to Hilton, get half to Bianco, and that gives you the best opportunity at winning.

00:27:56
Speaker 5: So what do you do for that?

00:27:57
Speaker 3: Do you do like the gas shortage in the seventies, where if you have an even numbered address, you vote for Hilton and if it's an odd number, you vote for Bianco.

00:28:06
Speaker 1: Now that's the way to think.

00:28:09
Speaker 12: The big question heading into the weekend is the party going to unite? Republican strategist Tim Rosale says, for now, it's still a draw.

00:28:16
Speaker 10: If Steve Hilton does get is able to kind of patch together enough support to get the endorsement from the California Republican Party, I think it speaks to the president's power in terms of what that endorsement means.

00:28:28
Speaker 12: But the implications are larger.

00:28:30
Speaker 11: Republicans need to do some soul searching. They have to figure out what they want to be. Do they want to be the Party of Trump? Does that hurt them in California? I think it does.

00:28:40
Speaker 8: Featured convention speakers include Texas Senators Ted Cruz.

00:28:43
Speaker 3: Boy, he needed another beach vacation, didn't he?

00:28:49
Speaker 8: Ted Cruz California legislators, as well as Congressman darryl Isa, who was retiring after his longtime district was redrawn as a result of Proposition fifty.

00:28:57
Speaker 3: I get my ices speaking. Why is Ted Cruz coming?

00:29:02
Speaker 2: They need some kind of name that people have heard of so they can sell tickets to the Rubber Chicken dinner. Because if you're selling tickets to the Rubber Chicken dinner and it's someone you've seen nine million times, you're gonna skip the rubber Chicken dinner and you're going to go to some fantastic restaurant in the gas lamp. I mean, how bad of a look is it, though, for the California Republican Party to say the biggest name that we can get in California politics is a Senator from Texas. Well, that's only because Dean Kine wasn't available.

00:29:36
Speaker 8: The ability of Republicans to win those down ballot races will also be top of mind. Chris Laura.

00:29:42
Speaker 3: Okay, Jinny, thank you, there you go. It's going on in San Diego this weekend. Get your tickets early so you can see Ted Cruz.

00:29:51
Speaker 2: Eight hundred two two two five two two two. Easy telephone number one eight hundred two to two five two two two if you'd like to email the show you new so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny, don't like show at gmail dot com. As we mentioned before, California Attorney General Bob Bonta and is bucket full of cliches or back in the news Bob Bonta.

00:30:19
Speaker 3: Bob Bonta made a big bust when it comes to hospice fraud in Los Angeles County, and CBS News was there in their continuing investigation into all this hospice fraud that, of course, let's not forget includes hundreds of licensed businesses that got licenses from the Secretary of State's office that the California State audits have shown that there are several red flags of how many of these businesses are fraudulent and in that one building in Van Eyes, at least half of them look like they have those red flags. But hey, credit where credits due. Bobby made a big bust Bob Bonta.

00:31:00
Speaker 1: After he was shamed into it.

00:31:02
Speaker 5: Hey, I'm all for it. I love this.

00:31:04
Speaker 3: Let's all outdo each other on how much fraud we can go after.

00:31:07
Speaker 5: That's great.

00:31:09
Speaker 3: For more, here's CBS News and Adam ram Yamagucci.

00:31:13
Speaker 14: An update tonight in our CBS News investigation into hospice fraud in southern California. Our team was the first to report charges filed against more than twenty suspects in what's described as a two hundred and sixty seven million dollar fraud case with zero legitimate patience.

00:31:33
Speaker 1: You know what this reminds me of.

00:31:35
Speaker 2: What's that if you are in a totalitarian state and you want to tell the rest of the world that you're actually a democracy, they don't know the proper way to steal an election. It's like when Lyndon Johnson won his first seat in the US Senate and he stuffed the ballot boxes. He went by just a handful of votes and then them landslide Linden. He stole the election by just a few. When they steal an election in North Korea or in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was there, the results that they published are always ninety nine point nine zero zero zero point one. That's always what they publish. If you're going to steal something, make it look close. So it's kind of believable. If you're going to operate this number of fraudulent hospice care facilities, wouldn't you want to have at least a couple of legit patients so you can point to something.

00:32:38
Speaker 5: Oh wait till you hear how this whole scam worked.

00:32:41
Speaker 14: Here's CBS News correspondent Adam I a'm agucci.

00:32:46
Speaker 6: CBS News obtained exclusive body camera footage showing California Department of Justice officers reading ten homes and offices in a crackdown of suspected hospice frauds. State Attorney General Rob Bonta says they've charged.

00:32:59
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no, Adam not his name.

00:33:03
Speaker 6: State Attorney General bought Bonta.

00:33:05
Speaker 1: There you go.

00:33:06
Speaker 6: Bonta says they've charged twenty one suspects.

00:33:09
Speaker 4: Well, I addressed rod is us doing the hard work. Heads down, sleeves rolled up.

00:33:16
Speaker 1: Boy, this guy really does have one speed.

00:33:19
Speaker 4: Doing the investigation, doing the arrests, doing the prosecutions.

00:33:22
Speaker 6: Here's how Bonta describes the alleged scheme. The suspects purchased personal information from the dark web used it to enroll in California's state run MEDICID program.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: You might be enrolled in hospice right now and have no idea.

00:33:38
Speaker 1: And I thought I was healthy.

00:33:39
Speaker 3: You know, when you here, when you get one of those letters in the mail from Target or some kind of retailer that says, oh, all your information got linked to the dark web, you might think, Okay, maybe they're going to try to apply for a credit card in my name that is so old and there are so many protections against that.

00:33:56
Speaker 5: That's not what they're doing.

00:33:58
Speaker 3: If someone has stolen your so securecurity number, they're doing one of two things. Both of these are things we found out thanks to CBS News. They're applying for Medicare reimbursements through things like hospice, where there's a very low proof of burden to show what they're doing. Or they're applying to be an uber driver in your name.

00:34:19
Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you, if I'm enrolled in hospice, I certainly wouldn't have eaten the turkey sandwich for lunch. I would have had something a lot tastier and a lot unhealthier.

00:34:29
Speaker 6: The suspects purchased personal information from the dark web, used it to enroll in California's state run MEDICID program, then used fourteen hospice companies to build a government for this phantom care.

00:34:40
Speaker 3: I wonder how many of those fourteen companies were in that one building in Van Eys, Probably every single one of them.

00:34:48
Speaker 6: All of it coming from taxpayers.

00:34:50
Speaker 4: There were no actual services, no hospice centers.

00:34:54
Speaker 6: For months, CBS News.

00:34:55
Speaker 3: And all fourteen of those businesses got licenses from Shirley Weber.

00:35:00
Speaker 1: Thanks Shirley.

00:35:01
Speaker 6: For months, CBS News has been uncovering signs of potential hospice fraud. We found one doctor's name and claims from one hundred and twenty six hospices. He wouldn't speak with US Medicare chief doctor memet Oz announced on social media they revoked that doctor's ability to build a system. It's become a political flashpoint with Democrats and Republicans trading blame even as state and federal officials try to work together.

00:35:25
Speaker 3: It is a challenging time between some states like California and our federal partners.

00:35:30
Speaker 6: We remain committed to partnership CBS News.

00:35:33
Speaker 3: I mean, we should all be on the same team. The fraudsters are the bad guys.

00:35:38
Speaker 2: But don't forget when this was first uncovered by Nick Shirley and then CBS News, what did Newsom's office do? Immediately they started attacking the entities that we're exposing it.

00:35:51
Speaker 6: CBS News has learned those officials are now working through three hundred open investigations in California. Adamyamagucci, CBS News, Los Angeles.

00:36:00
Speaker 3: There you go, Bob Banta did make a big bust in hospice fraud.

00:36:06
Speaker 2: The fix California. Hours next, don't you go anywhere