Dr Mehmet Oz visited New York City where he claimed the ‘Chinese mafia’ may be orchestrating Medicaid fraud through senior care centers.
Oz’s endeavors came the same day Donald Trump and JD Vance announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in government.
The former TV host and current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator delivered letters of warning to senior centers in Flushing, Queens as part of a multi-agency federal probe.
Oz took part in two of the over 80 visits that took place, many of which included arrests, in the Big Apple Tuesday as he challenged employees about their billing records and how they were spending taxpayer funds.
He told Fox News Digital that ‘the whole experience was suspicious’ at his trips to Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care – and even said the ‘Chinese mafia’ may be paying people to help facilitate the scam.
‘People were just walking in there without signing anything and then after I showed up and he saw what we were doing with my team, he started collecting these documents to be signed.’
At Kent, Oz spoke to the director and said: ‘The bills are much higher than they should be. The billing is for more people. It doesn’t look very crowded here.’
The unnamed director claimed that their visit at 8:30am came at an hour when patients had yet to start arriving at the 70 person capacity facility.
Dr Mehmet Oz went across New York City to confront senior care center employees suspected of Medicaid fraud, comparing some of the purveyors to the ‘Chinese mafia’
Oz wondered why there were so many mahjong tables in one facility, asking if American taxpayers should be funding that
‘The bills we’re getting are as though it’s completely full all the time,’ Oz snapped back and pointed out that the warning letter came ‘because we don’t believe you.
The director promised that Kent only bills for seniors who actually attend and requires signed attendance slips.
However, Oz continued to hammer down on inconsistencies, like patients who only attended two or three days a week when the center bills for five days, or specialized transportation for those in wheelchairs.
‘I don’t see any wheelchairs here,’ he said.
The director promised that the facility only billed for in-person attendance and that some came more often than others.
Oz also wondered why there were so many mahjong tables in the facility, asking if American taxpayers should be funding that.
‘It’s free for them, not free for the taxpayers. Is that what our federal tax dollars for Medicaid is supposed to go to? Or is it life- saving heart surgery? Or, you know, new therapies for cancer?’
The director claimed that the game, which is popular with seniors, helps patients improve cognitive abilities and exercise their fingers.
He said that ‘the whole experience was suspicious’ at his trips to Kent Senior Care (pictured) and Evergreen Adult Day Care
At Evergreen Adult Day Care, Oz also discovered billing discrepancies over attendance fraud
Seniors were seen entering Kent Senior Care without signing attendance sheets, though those who showed up later were forced to sign in.
At Evergreen Adult Day Care, Oz also discovered billing discrepancies over attendance fraud.
While the manager claimed 200 seniors came in three days a week and 150 on the other two days a week, Oz said he only could see 25.
‘The numbers don’t seem to add up,’ Oz said after their director claimed some patients were in classes or off at doctor’s appointments.
Oz believes that the fraud goes deeper, into criminal networks and even the ‘Chinese mafia’ paying some people over $1,000 to help facilitate the attendance scams that help centers overcharge the government.
‘We know from the billing here that there’s no way this business is running in the way that they claim to be running without something being wrong,’ he said.
He claimed that seeing the issue hundreds of times keeps it from being ‘an innocent mistake.
‘It’s really a clubhouse for crime,’ Oz said.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Washington, as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Vice President JD Vance and Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission listen
Nick Shirley speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday during an event with President Donald Trump in Washington.
New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul promised the state is engaging a ‘massive effort to combat fraud and abuse’ in Medicaid.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for comment.
Trump and Vance on Tuesday announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the government as they ramp up efforts to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.
The White House said that under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, anyone who submits a tip that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, and that the Justice Department will administer the program.
During the announcement, Trump said payments will amount to one percent commission on the amount of fraud the tip helps uncover.
Trump also said he will decide who gets reward money in cases where more than one person claims to have provided the tip.
‘I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,’ Trump said in the Oval Office with Vance and other administration officials standing behind him. ‘It’ll be a binding arbitration.’
Trump said journalists could participate in the program.
The Republican president has undertaken an aggressive effort to eliminate fraud in government, establishing a task force on the topic in March and putting Vance in charge of it.
Critics have accused Trump and his family of profiting from the presidency through their many business ventures.
The White House says Trump acts only with the best interests of the American people in mind.
Vance, who said his work leading the task force is ‘fun,’ said tax dollars are being stolen.
‘The president has said it must stop. It is stopping. And if you want to help us stop it, you get to share in the rewards,’ the vice president said.
The White House had said Trump would present a $10,000 check to Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who posted a video last year that said members of Minnesota´s Somali community were running fake childcare centers to collect federal subsidies. But a check was not given to Shirley in the presence of journalists.
The 24-year-old’s video caught the attention of the Trump administration and conservative activists, though inspectors said the centers were operating as expected. Investigations, searches and arrests followed.
Shirley said during the event that fraud robs from poor and needy people.
‘When you expose fraud, you help save America,’ he said.
In July, Fahima Mahamud pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting inflated reimbursement claims for meals allegedly served to children at her childcare center, according to the Justice Department.
The White House says Mahamud was featured in Shirley’s video.
