Key facts
- Dr. Stephen Dubin, a Nevada wound care doctor, has been charged by the Justice Department.
- The charges relate to an alleged $95 million fraud scheme involving skin substitutes.
- Dubin is accused of applying unneeded, expensive wound coverings to seniors.
- The Justice Department announced a total of 455 defendants charged in a $6.5 billion healthcare fraud takedown.
- The operation spanned 56 federal districts and 45 states and territories.
- Approximately $182 million in assets were seized.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Dr. Stephen Dubin, a wound care doctor in Nevada, in connection with a $95 million scheme involving the fraudulent billing of skin substitutes. Prosecutors allege Dubin applied unneeded and expensive wound coverings to senior citizens, using the illicit profits to fund personal luxuries such as yachts.
This case is part of a broader, coordinated healthcare fraud takedown by the Justice Department, which announced on June 23, 2026, that 455 defendants were charged in schemes totaling over $6.5 billion. This operation, described as the largest of its kind by the agency, spanned 56 federal districts and involved all 50 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units. The government reported seizing approximately $182 million in cash, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and other assets linked to the alleged fraudulent activities.
Among the defendants charged are 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals. The schemes targeted by prosecutors include various areas of healthcare, such as home health visits, hospice enrollment, wound care, telehealth, and behavioral health services. The Justice Department highlighted that when care is allegedly billed but never delivered or not needed, the documentation trail often involves nurses.
The takedown also led to two fugitives, Khalid Ahmed Satary and Emylee Thai, being added to the FBI's Most Wanted Fraudsters list. Satary is linked to an alleged $547 million genetic testing scheme, while Thai's company allegedly billed Medicare for $142 million and collected $95 million.
Specific fraudulent schemes detailed include an amniotic wound allograft scheme where 11 defendants allegedly billed Medicare $4 billion and collected over $2 billion, marking up products by approximately 2,000 percent and paying kickbacks. Other cases involved hospice fraud, where a defendant allegedly generated $27.7 million by using deceased beneficiaries' identities and creating backdated records, and an Illinois behavioral health case alleging $67 million in false claims for services never provided. A cardiovascular testing case also noted results being approved rapidly, with one patient cleared for athletics despite signs of an enlarged heart, later suffering cardiac arrest.
Nurses and nurse practitioners were among the defendants, with specific cases mentioning a nurse practitioner charged in a $906 million allograft scheme in the Southern District of Texas, and three defendants, including a nurse practitioner, charged in an $118 million allograft scheme in the Middle District of Florida. A licensed vocational nurse was also named in a separate California hospice fraud case.