Senator Schiff and the Armenian mafia against Trump A multi-billion-dollar scam

A scandal over massive abuses in the Los Angeles County healthcare system continues in the United States. Dr. Mehmet Oz, Chair of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, stated that the county has become “an epicenter for health care fraud in America,” where criminal schemes are so entrenched that fraud has effectively become the norm. Oz emphasized that President Donald Trump’s administration will not tolerate either harm to patients or the theft of taxpayers’ money.

Immediately after his election as president in November 2024, Donald Trump nominated Mehmet Oz for the position of Chair of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Trump announced this decision on his social media page, Truth Social. He stated that the United States is facing a serious healthcare crisis and that there is no doctor more qualified than Oz to handle these problems. Highlighting Oz’s education and career, which began at Harvard University, Trump stressed that he would be able to resolve many issues within the American healthcare system.

Medicare is a U.S. federal health insurance program for people aged 65 and older, while Medicaid is a joint federal and state healthcare program providing health coverage for low-income families. In 2023, the U.S. federal government allocated $860 billion for Medicaid and $848 billion for Medicare.

But let’s return to the large-scale abuses identified by Dr. Oz. During an inspection of one Los Angeles district, 42 hospices were found across four blocks, most of which had no actual medical activity. This pointed to the signature of organized crime.

Dr. Oz stated that a significant portion of the fraud was carried out by the Russian-Armenian mafia, describing it as an organised criminal structure that systematically recruited doctors to issue false prescriptions. He said that hundreds of doctors were involved in these schemes and that around 100,000 patients had either been defrauded or paid to provide their beneficiary numbers.

According to CMS estimates, the total volume of fraud in the hospice and home care sector in Los Angeles could reach $3.5 billion. Federal authorities have already involved the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI in the investigation.

It was expected that once the discussion turned to the Armenian mafia in Los Angeles—a group now under serious federal scrutiny—longtime lobbyist for Armenian interests, California Senator Adam Schiff, rushed to its defence. At the end of last month, Schiff issued a statement in response to the legitimate actions of Dr. Mehmet Oz against the Armenian mafia in Los Angeles County.

“California’s Armenian American community is an indispensable part of the fabric of our Golden state. After representing the largest community of Armenian Americans anywhere in the country in the House for more than two decades, I have seen firsthand the many countless contributions Armenian Americans have made to our country. I condemn this reckless demonization of an entire community by Dr. Oz, which has already seen businesses suffer through bigoted attacks on their operations,” Schiff’s statement read, in part. “Dr. Oz is baselessly targeting an entire community with indiscriminate and unsubstantiated claims. He is painting his accusations with a brush laden with racist historical tropes and stereotypes [...] These attacks must end.”

Recently, Schiff also called for an independent investigation into the “racist and baseless targeting” of the Chair of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, against Armenian Americans in Los Angeles.

“I strongly urge you to open an independent investigation into this incident, which should include an inquiry into misuse of taxpayer dollars and flagrant targeting of communities based on ethnicity. These allegations peddle a racist conspiracy about California’s Armenian American community and undermine Armenian Americans’ civil rights,” Schiff wrote. “In light of the severity of the allegations made against the Armenian American community, I urge you to open an investigation into Administrator Oz’s actions described above.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom (Democratic Party) also sided with Schiff, filing a complaint against Dr. Mehmet Oz. Newsom submitted a “civil rights violation” complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, demanding a federal investigation into Dr. Oz.

At the same time, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) joined the campaign against Oz, accusing the doctor of “ethnic discrimination.”

However, neither the “heavy artillery” of Schiff and Newsom nor the pressure from the Armenian diaspora and mafia can stop the investigation, which, it should be noted, is being conducted by federal agencies. And they are certainly not going to intimidate Dr. Oz, who was personally tasked by President Trump with resolving the problems in the U.S. healthcare system.