Providing needed care to those who can’t afford it is usually admirable. It’s not as noble when hospitals do it to scam the government.

FBI agents recently arrested Rudra Sabaratnam, CEO of City of Angels Hospital, and Estill Mitts, operator of a Skid Row health assessment center, both located in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Feds, these two were the masterminds of a scheme that provided free medical care to the homeless.

It doesn’t sound so bad at first — some of the homeless patients brought in were in severe need of medical care. But on the financial end of things, Sabaratnam and Mitts submitted false Medicare and Medi-Cal bills for the thousands of patients. Even though most suffered from minor problems like dehydration and yeast infections, the hospitals kept the beds as full as possible to receive a bigger paycheck from the government.

The two men are charged with conspiring to receive kickbacks for patient referrals, as well as money laundering and tax evasion. If convicted, Sabaratnam and Mitts could face 50 and 140 years in prison, respectively.

Federal authorities started the investigation after Los Angeles Police looked into reports that the hospitals were dumping homeless patients out of ambulances and into the middle of Skid Row.

Tags: Health assessment, Kickbacks, Medicare, Tax evasion