Seriously.
The way the Trump administration is busting these criminals makes you wonder how many million-bazillion dollars have been flying out the door all these years, and no one batted an eye.
On second thought, don't think about it - you'll be nauseated all weekend.
The new and exciting part about this bust is 'Yay! For once, not a Somali pirate!'
I know, right? How about them apples?
This guy's from Georgia, but he sure knew how the system worked, bless his little pointy, pilferous head.
Before he skedaddled out of the country last year, Erekle Gugava owned a medical supply company for all of five months that managed to bill Medicare for at least $1.3 billion in patient equipment charges.
HOLY SMOKES
A 33-year-old Georgian illegal alien living in the United States has been charged with helping wash the proceeds of one of the largest health-care fraud schemes ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors in Boston say Erekle Gugava was a money launderer for a foreign-based criminal organization behind Operation Gold Rush. The group, operating from Russia and other countries, allegedly orchestrated a multi-billion-dollar scheme that targeted Medicare and private insurers by billing for durable medical equipment that patients never received.
medical equipment company, for just five months—from February to July 2025. In that short window, the company submitted at least $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims. Insurers paid out roughly $6.5 million.
Prosecutors allege Gugava opened bank accounts in the company’s name, deposited reimbursement checks from Medicare supplemental insurers and other health plans, and then moved the money overseas to the organization that ran the scheme.
The Department of Justice only found out about it when elderly Americans whose identities the fraud ring had stolen and used to process orders got their Medicare 'explanation of benefits' statements for equipment they'd never ordered or needed.
These folks would naturally give Medicare and its contractors a jingle asking what was up. It snowballed from there.
...As alleged in charging documents, the fraudulent claims relied, in part, on the stolen identities of citizens from Massachusetts, across New England, and throughout the United States to justify the fraudulent billings. Many of these individuals, including elderly and disabled Americans, reported their concerns to Medicare and its contractors after receiving explanation of benefit forms that reflected them purportedly receiving DME that they did not in fact receive, that was purportedly prescribed by doctors whom they had never visited and purportedly delivered from ND Medical—a DME company with which they were unfamiliar.
As further alleged, the organization exploited the United States’ financial system by depositing insurance reimbursement checks from the fraud. The health care fraud proceeds were particularly susceptible to laundering because they originated from legitimate sources. Medicare and established private insurance carriers, giving the funds the initial appearance of legitimacy.
Fiendishly simple.
🇺🇸The DOJ just charged an illegal alien from Georgia with laundering proceeds from a $1.3B Medicare fraud mill—the largest health-care case the department has ever prosecuted.
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) September 4, 2026
In 5 months, 33-year-old Erekle Gugava's Pennsylvania DME company billed $1.3B using stolen identities… https://t.co/ribMnOvLCU pic.twitter.com/yIsNC6UcH4
And yet another scheme uncovered by this administration in what has been a dizzying parade of financial fraudsters being busted, the like of which I do not believe we've ever seen.
It seems many people got enriched under Joe Biden’s watch. That’s why they fight so hard to become socialists, because that would give many people access to steal more money from taxpayers.
— VittaX5 (@TovikkaX) September 4, 2026
And I have little patience with the people whose first statements aren't 'well done' but some sour version of, 'I guess we won't get this back either, huh?'
You know - would you rather have this guy ARRESTED and some chance of
— tree hugging sister 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) September 4, 2026
1) maybe getting something back
2) NO MORE MONEY BEING STOLEN
Or is your first instinct to piss and moan?
Go sit in a corner and play with your 'Vote for Joe' button.
Interestingly enough, fraud convictions were announced yesterday in, of all things, a Nigerian farmworker, romance (!), and unemployment insurance scam, among other grifting luminaries. And here you thought just because you didn't get those 'Dear beloved friend' emails anymore, the Nigerians had given up.
Nope. Innerwebs romance bad boys are still on the prowl.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Nigerian national Oluwasegun Baiyewu was sentenced to 95 months in prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving millions of dollars tied to various fraud schemes, including business email compromise, romance and unemployment insurance fraud scams, perpetrated against U.S. citizens. Baiyewu led a conspiracy that laundered over $3.1 million in proceeds of various fraud schemes by purchasing used cars with illicit proceeds and then shipping those cars to West Africa. Between approximately May 2020 and October 2021, Baiyewu worked with at least six other co-conspirators in the United States and Nigeria....
LOS ANGELES — Jorge Vasquez, of Santa Maria, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay $165,157 in restitution. Vasquez illegally collected tens of thousands of dollars in fees from Mexican nationals in exchange for visas permitting them to be employed as farmworkers in the United States. He then paid the workers at a reduced rate for their labor. Vasquez recruited foreign workers on H-2A visas to work at two entities he controlled and charged farmworkers between $8,000 and $15,000 for their visas. In total, Vasquez and his co-conspirators fraudulently recruited 162 foreign workers for H-2A visas. ...
DES MOINES, DAVENPORT, COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Jodi Dyan Spargur-Tate, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $426,837 in restitution, for stealing more than $426,000 from Children and Families of Iowa (CFI) over nearly seven years. During her time as Program Director at CFI, Spargur-Tate submitted hundreds of false and fraudulent reimbursement requests, including falsified invoices and receipts. She also diverted over one hundred payments from CFI to herself and her family members....
🚨PRESS RELEASE: No Amount Too Small, No Fraud Too Large—And Counting: $3.1 Million Nigerian Money-Laundering Ring and Farmworker Visa Scam Busted.
— DOL OIG (@DOLOIG) September 3, 2026
Read:⤵️https://t.co/ppIgK4bmQ5 pic.twitter.com/xkW5TilQv5
The old truism holds here and in every case they've unearthed and charged people for, and every fraud network they've blown to bits in the past year that can no longer send money to Russia, Somalia, or wherever.
A penny saved is a billion earned at this rate.
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