The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has recently charged 78 people with $2.5 billion in separate health-care fraud and opioid abuse schemes. The defendants allegedly defrauded programs used to take care of elderly and disabled people, and in some cases used the ill-gotten money to buy exotic cars, jewelry, and yachts, the DOJ said. Among those charged are 11 defendants accused of submitting $2 billion in fraudulent claims through telemedicine, as well as 10 defendants charged in connection with fraudulent prescription drug claims. In all, prosecutors filed charges against people in 16 states in cases that were lodged or unsealed in the past two weeks as part of the coordinated crackdown. In the scheme cited by Garland, executives of supposed software and services companies submitted $1.9 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare for items that were not eligible for reimbursement, according to the DOJ.

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Persons: General Merrick Garland, Garland, Brett Blackman, Gregory Schreck, Johnson, Gary Cox Organizations: of Justice, DOJ, Justice Department, Southern, Southern District of Locations: telemedicine, Johnson County , Kansas, Maricopa County , Arizona, U.S, Southern District, Southern District of Florida