Staten Island Day Care Owners Charged With Billing Medicaid for Dead

Two operators of a Staten Island adult day care center are in custody on Medicaid fraud charges, accused of billing taxpayers for seniors who were dead or out of the country, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon announced Wednesday, according to ABC7 New York. The charges are the first arrests to surface from a sweeping state and federal investigation into New York City’s social adult day care industry.

The owner and program director of the Staten Island Adult Day Care Center on Forest Avenue in Mariners Harbor are accused of “widespread deception and brazen fraud” totaling up to $530,000 over a four-month period beginning April 14, ABC7 reported. Gothamist identified the pair as mother-and-daughter team Yangsim Oum and Juyoung Choe and reported that an indictment it reviewed charges them with more than 400 counts of health care fraud and falsifying business records, carrying up to 15 years in prison.

FBI RAIDS: Federal officials conducted two raids at Happy Adult Day Care Center in #Brooklyn due to allegations of Medicaid fraud. – https://t.co/cBHPGxhGNt pic.twitter.com/QhmxM68d6P

— News 12 New York (@News12) October 21, 2026

“Furthermore, these defendants allegedly stole an additional $13,000 billing for at least 32 seniors that were either confirmed to be deceased or out of the country at the time of the apparent rendering of services,” McMahon said, according to ABC7. The charges are allegations, and the defendants have not been convicted.

A citywide sweep

The arrests came as federal agents were seen carrying boxes and computer equipment out of adult care centers across Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan on Tuesday, according to FOX 5 New York. Gothamist reported that nearly a dozen centers in Brooklyn and Queens were searched, interviews were conducted at 20 centers under investigation and another 80 received letters, citing the state Department of Health.

The FBI said in a statement posted on X that an audit of New York’s Medicaid program found roughly $2.4 billion went to social adult day care services from January 2019 to October 2024, FOX 5 reported. The bureau said it had joined an interagency working group “dedicated to immediately disrupting and dismantling billion-dollar health care fraud schemes and the money laundering networks that enable them,” according to the same report.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said the months-long investigation targeted more than 100 providers suspected of involvement in potential fraud or illegal activity, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the FBI and more than a dozen other partners. FOX 5 reported that Hochul met with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in Washington before the operation.

A program with a long fraud record

The program has drawn scrutiny before. Hochul’s office said that between 2021 and 2025 the state’s Office of the Medicaid Inspector General investigated 387 subjects tied to social adult day care operations and referred roughly 100 cases for possible prosecution. Earlier this year, two people in Brooklyn pleaded guilty to a $68 million scheme, according to the governor’s office, and Gothamist reported that last month the owner of two Coney Island centers was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison over a roughly $64 million Medicaid fraud conspiracy.

Hochul has directed state health officials to consider all options, including phasing out the benefit entirely, with recommendations due by Dec. 31, her office said. The state placed a moratorium on new providers in July.

FOX 5 reported there has been no indication that seniors receiving services at the centers knew of any fraudulent practices. McMahon said his office is also investigating other adult day care centers on Staten Island, according to Gothamist, and authorities have not released a full list of the locations searched.

For taxpayers, the case raises a pointed question: how a benefit flagged for fraud for years kept paying out billions before agents showed up at the door.

Reporting by Daily Beltway.