California taxpayers burned by $20 Million Medi-Cal scam

Orange County, California – A Southern California man has been sentenced for his role in a brazen scheme that siphoned more than $20 million from California’s Medi-Cal program, exploiting both vulnerable patients and the taxpayers who fund their care.

Oscar B. Abrons III was sentenced this week to four years in jail by an Orange County Superior Court judge for orchestrating, along with two accomplices, a sprawling prescription fraud conspiracy. Prosecutors say the trio targeted Medi-Cal, California’s publicly funded Medicaid program, by luring beneficiaries into an unlicensed clinic called God’s Property, where patients were paid in cash to obtain prescriptions they did not need. Those prescriptions, which included powerful HIV medications, antipsychotics, and controlled substances, were then diverted and sold on the underground market.

Between 2014 and 2016, the scheme operated with ruthless efficiency. Alongside Abrons, Steven Derrick Fleming and Mohamed Waddah El-Nachef played central roles. El-Nachef, an Orange County physician, wrote so many prescriptions through the scheme that he became the state’s top prescriber of HIV medications, according to prosecutors. Fleming has already been sentenced to five years in state prison, and El-Nachef was sentenced to a five-year local custody term and surrendered his medical license.

The California Attorney General’s Office described the scheme as a direct attack on both the public and the public trust. “When healthcare operators take advantage of Medi-Cal for personal gain, not only are they stealing from taxpayers, but they are also undermining the health and trust of our communities,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement announcing Abrons’ sentencing. “We will not tolerate this unlawful behavior.”

A restitution hearing is expected to determine the precise amount Abrons will be ordered to repay, though the state has already documented losses exceeding $20 million. Officials say the damage reaches far beyond financial cost.

The case was prosecuted by the California Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, which is tasked with protecting elderly and dependent Californians from fraud and neglect while safeguarding the integrity of Medi-Cal. That division, operating under a combination of federal and state funding, has faced rising challenges as fraud grows more sophisticated.

For many, the revelations around the God’s Property clinic show a disturbing vulnerability in the safety net that supports California’s low-income residents. The promise of public health care depends on public faith in its stewardship, a trust that can be dangerously weakened when fraudsters treat a lifesaving program as a personal ATM. As the restitution hearing approaches, the case leaves an unsettling reminder: those who exploit the system leave entire communities paying the price.