Healthcare Fraud Task Force Expands To Philly, Charges 19
August 5, 2026
Law360
Types : In the News
Federal and Pennsylvania law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced charges against 19 defendants involved in home care, alleging they bilked Medicare and Medicaid out of funds meant for caregivers and beneficiaries — representing an expansion of the federal crackdown on benefits fraud to Philadelphia.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald, Philadelphia-based U.S. Attorney David Metcalf, Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and other officials convened a press conference at the William J. Green Jr. Federal Building.
McDonald said that Pennsylvania is one of the top spenders when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid-funded home care, claiming that the programs have become ripe targets for “greedy and deceitful opportunists” who bill the government without rendering services.
“We will no longer tolerate fraud against our most vulnerable citizens,” McDonald said, adding that “the era of getting rich off the backs of our programs for our sick, elderly, and disabled is over.”
Oz characterized the defendants’ conduct as a “diabolical” violation of trust. He also claimed that home care fraud has spiked dramatically since 2020, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as the tipping point.
“COVID appeared to unleash massive fraud through grifters,” Oz said, “… harpooning us with their spears. No mas. No more.”
Officials said Tuesday that defendants included one home care company, caregivers owners and beneficiaries. The cases involve multiple forms of alleged fraud, including caregivers getting paid without rendering services and benefits being paid out to dead or incarcerated people.
“The great fraud against the American taxpayer takes many forms,” Metcalf said. “It is outrageous and unacceptable that anyone could steal money by billing nonexistent home care services for caregivers who were, in fact, dead, in prison, or trafficking drugs.”
The multiple individual federal defendants and one company indicted for their alleged roles in separate healthcare fraud schemes, include : Joseph Pizzo, 47; Tiziana Taormina, 52; Donna Romsteadt, 63; Alyssa Cuculino, 27; Louise Israel, 46; and Elexis Cuculino, 51; Albert Coccia Jr., 56; Santino Coccia, 28; Sean Murray, 58; Charles Bowie, 53; and Khaleelah Williams, 49, Saleemah Davis, 29. Williams and Davis’ agency, Benevolent Home Health LLC, was also listed as a defendant.
Six of the 19 defendants were charged by the state attorney general’s office. Information on those defendants was not immediately available. The office did not immediately respond to an information request Tuesday.
Along with the charges, McDonald announced the expansion of the Department of Justice’s Fraud Division’s Northeast Health Care Fraud Strike Force to Philadelphia, with the overall program having initiated prosecutions against 6,200 defendants nationwide, according to the DOJ.
The move comes as the Trump administration has initiated a nationwide crackdown on fraud, spearheaded by an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President J.D. Vance.
Murray’s attorney, Gina Amoriello said, “We look forward to receiving the discovery in the case and defending it accordingly. It would be premature for me to comment on the substance of the case at this early stage. Mr. Murray enjoys the presumption of innocence, and we intend to pursue his defense aggressively.”
“There seems to be a huge complex gaggle of regulations that are at issue here and im interested in learning about the facts in addition to just the money allegedly at issue, which has been the main focus,” said Terri Pawleski of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, who represents Taormina.