GULF COAST HEALTH CARE FRAUD STRIKE FORCE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

U.S. Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of Texas, November 17, 2020

The Strike Force will Focus on Health Care Fraud and Illegal Opioid Prescriptions and Distribution

BEAUMONT, Texas - U.S. Attorney Stephen Cox of the Eastern District of Texas today announced the expansion of the Criminal Division, Fraud Section’s existing Gulf Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force to include the Eastern District of Texas.  The Strike Force is a joint law enforcement effort that brings together the resources and expertise of the Health Care Fraud Unit in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section (HCF Unit), the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Texas, the Middle District of Louisiana, the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the Southern District of Mississippi, as well as law enforcement partners at the FBI, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and other federal and state partners.

“The fight against health care fraud is a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas,” said U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Cox.  “We are honored to join the Department’s Gulf Coast Strike Force and look forward to working together with them and with our law enforcement partners to protect the people of the Eastern District from fraud and abuse and to bring wrongdoers to justice.”

“Each year, healthcare fraud costs the American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “The Criminal Division’s Health Care Fraud Strike Forces are a critical tool in the Department of Justice’s efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute those who defraud our healthcare system.  We are eager to announce this new partnership with the Eastern District of Texas, which will enhance and expand our efforts to prosecute healthcare fraud and protect American taxpayers.”

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