- Gladwin and Amelou Gill are accused of billing Medicare for $7.45 million (approx. ₦11.3 billion) through their hospice, St. Francis Palliative Care.
- The facility reported a staggering 97% survival rate for terminal patients over five years.
- The arrests are part of a massive federal crackdown involving 15 defendants and over $50 million in alleged losses to the American healthcare system.
Federal agents executed a high-profile raid in San Dimas, California, on Thursday, April 2, 2026, arresting a doctor and a psychologist accused of running a “sham” hospice operation.
Eko Hot Blog reports that Gladwin Gill, 66, and his wife, Amelou Gill, 70, are the primary targets in a case that has exposed deep systemic flaws in the oversight of terminal care facilities.
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The FBI alleges that the couple’s business, 626 Hospice (operating as St. Francis Palliative Care), systematically recruited patients who were not actually dying.
By paying illegal kickbacks for referrals and billing for unnecessary services, the Gills reportedly maintained a patient survival rate of over 97%, an impossibility for a legitimate hospice where the national average non-death discharge rate is only around 17%.
The arrests follow a months-long investigation into the hospice industry in Los Angeles County.
The probe identified over 700 hospices triggering multiple “red flags,” such as excessive billing and terminal patients being discharged alive.
Investigators highlighted one office plaza in LA that housed 89 registered hospices, describing it as “ground zero” for Medicare fraud.
“When you go to hospice, you usually go there to die,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli during a press conference at the scene of the raid.
“The defendants arrested this morning who are charged with stealing millions of dollars of health care benefits got caught and now face years in federal prison.”
The raid was attended by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump-appointed official overseeing federal Medicare, signaling the high priority placed on the new anti-fraud initiative led by Vice President JD Vance. While Republican leaders have blamed state oversight for the “kingdom of fraud,”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta noted that his office has already brought cases against over 100 defendants in the industry.
The Justice Department’s “Operation Never Say Die” revealed that some defendants were even operating these schemes from behind bars, coordinating with associates on the outside to enroll “fake dying” patients in exchange for monthly cash payments.
The Gills allegedly used the stolen ₦11.3 billion for personal luxuries, including mortgage payments and air travel.
They are among 15 individuals currently facing charges, including nurses and a chiropractor.
As a result of the ongoing scandal, a moratorium on new hospice licenses in California has been extended through January 2027 to allow for stricter vetting of applicants.
Federal authorities warned that this is only the beginning of a nationwide sweep to root out providers who exploit the taxpayer-funded healthcare system for the elderly and disabled.
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