Yesterday, on Tuesday, October 20, federal and state agents searched several day care centres for elderly people in New York, as part of an investigation into alleged fraud against Medicaid, the public health care program for people with low income. Operations involved structures in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island and are part of an investigation initiated several months ago.
Investigators suspect that some centers have requested reimbursement for services never provided, stated a number of assisties higher than the actual one, or paid illegally to obtain registrations. The investigation also covers possible recycling operations.
In Brooklyn, agents took part in two facilities at Sunset Park and Borough Park, along Eighth Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway. In Queens, journalists from amNewYork documented the search for Hanmaum Daycare, at 32-38 on 148th Street, in Flushing. Investigators took away boxes of documents, computers and other materials. Other checks were made on Staten Island.
The operation involved the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, NYPD and state offices to control the use of Medicaid funds.
Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed that state authorities have been working with federal authorities for months. According to the Governor, his administration has already transmitted over one hundred reports of possible irregularities to the State Attorney General.
According to ABC7 New York, two arrests were also made in Staten Island. The district attorney should provide further details today, Wednesday 21 October. It is not yet clear whether the two arrests concern the same investigative strand of searches in other districts.
The centers involved belong to the category of social adult day care, structures that offer the elderly socialization activities, meals, supervision and assistance during the day. The service allows many people, including those with reduced health problems or autonomy, to continue to live in their home instead of moving into a residential structure.
The benefits are financed by Medicaid, on the basis of services provided to members. It is precisely this mechanism to be at the center of the investigation: if a center declares nonexistent presences or benefits never made, it can get public refunds to which it would not be entitled.
Problems in controls had already emerged before searching. In a report published on 6 February 2026, State auditor Thomas DiNapoli had identified over $285 million of questionable payments made to centres which were already excluded from at least one of the assistance networks examined. The report concerned the period between January 2019 and October 2024 and reported shortcomings in the supervision of the programme.
The document shows that the authorities already knew some vulnerabilities of the system.
In recent years, major cases of fraud have been established in New York. On October 2, the Department of Justice announced that an entrepreneur from Brooklyn had pleaded guilty of participating in a system that had subtracted approximately $65 million to Medicaid, even through requests for reimbursement for services never provided.
As regards the operation of 20 October, the responsibilities of individual structures must still be ascertained. The search is aimed at collecting evidence, the investigation continues, while the authorities are examining accounting documentation and attendance records to establish the possible amount of fraud.
L’articolo Perquisitions in Senior Centres: Medicaid Fraud Survey proviene da IlNewyorkese.
