Federal and state officials raided a pair of adult daycare centers in Brooklyn Tuesday as part of a months-long healthcare fraud probe, officials said.
An alphabet soup of law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General, descended upon locations on Fort Hamilton Parkway near 50th St. and 8th Ave. near 40th St.
Investigators were seen leaving the adult daycare centers carrying boxes of potential evidence. As of Tuesday, no one has been arrested or indicted in the probe.
Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Tuesday that state investigators were taking part in a months-long “coordinated crackdown” on suspected Medicaid fraud at social adult daycare programs.
“We’re targeting providers we believe who engaged in illegal activity ranging from money laundering to kickbacks to improper billing and other fraudulent activities,” she said.
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
Federal agents conduct a raid at an adult day care center at 5118 Fort Hamilton Parkway in Brooklyn on Tuesday. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
A sign, written in Chinese, outside the Fort Hamilton Parkway location in Borough Park, showed images of Medicaid and Medicare cards, and read, “Age 65 and older, holding white card [Medicaid] and red-blue card [Medicare], apply for long-term care and senior day care activity center.”
It lists services offered at the center such as pickup and drop-off, television, internet, karaoke, mahjong, breakfast, and lunch.
“On October 20, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York, together with several federal, state, and local partners, executed court-authorized law enforcement actions in parts of New York City pursuant to ongoing criminal investigations,” an HSI spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.
“While we are unable to comment on active investigations, HSI is committed to ensuring the integrity of public programs that are funded by the American taxpayer, and to protecting our communities from fraudulent activity. We will provide additional information when we are able.”
A man answering the phone at one of the raided centers wouldn’t comment on the raids, explaining that they were “closed for business today.”