Israeli Man Accused of Using Dead People’s Identities in $27 Million Hospice Fraud

Federal agents in Los Angeles have arrested five people and charged five others in a fraud scheme that allegedly stole $27 million by using the identities of dead people. One of those charged is Oren David Shachar, a 59-year-old Israeli citizen from Los Angeles, whom prosecutors say led a major Medicare scam built around false hospice claims.

According to the indictment, Shachar used the identities of deceased people to submit fraudulent claims for hospice services that were never provided. Authorities say he controlled at least four hospice facilities in the Los Angeles area, where claims were filed for patients who were either not terminally ill or had already died. The money was then transferred into accounts tied to his companies and spent on luxury goods.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the Los Angeles arrests a “hospice fraud den” and said federal authorities had shut down 800 hospices in Los Angeles alone. “One of the ways we were able to identify this fraud is that in many of them, the patients never die, they live forever,” Kennedy said. “That’s not supposed to happen in hospices.”

Prosecutors say Shachar used the proceeds to support an extravagant car collection, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth $530,000. They also allege he moved money from one of his businesses to pay $15,000 toward the lease down payment on that vehicle. The indictment says he paid funeral home workers Abraham Shin and Ginny Choi for personal information about dead people, offering between $1,000 and $3,000 per identity, then used those details to bill the government for services never rendered.