California Man Pleads Guilty to Submitting Over $270 Million in Fraudulent Medicare and Medi-Cal Claims

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Paul Richard Randall, a Southern California man, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating one of the largest single-person healthcare fraud schemes in recent years, submitting more than $270 million in false claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal for prescription medications that were never dispensed.

According to federal prosecutors, Randall owned and operated multiple pharmacies that billed the two government programs for drugs that were either not provided to patients, not medically necessary, or in some cases never even purchased. The scheme allegedly ran for several years before it was uncovered.

Randall entered his guilty plea on April 7, 2026, in U.S. District Court to one count of health care fraud and one count of making false statements related to health care matters. As part of the plea agreement, he has agreed to forfeit millions in assets.

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and is part of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on healthcare fraud through the interagency Fraud Task Force chaired by Vice President JD Vance.

The scale of the alleged fraud — more than a quarter of a billion dollars from a single individual — highlights the massive vulnerabilities in Medicare and Medi-Cal, two of the nation’s largest entitlement programs. California has consistently ranked among the highest states for improper payments and fraud in federal healthcare programs.

Randall faces up to 10 years in federal prison on the fraud count and up to five years on the false statements count. He is scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

The Trump administration has made combating fraud in entitlement programs a major priority, with the task force already suspending hundreds of providers in the Los Angeles area alone and targeting similar schemes across the state. Officials say these types of pharmacy fraud operations drain billions of taxpayer dollars annually and drive up costs for legitimate patients.