Journalist Nick Shirley, who went viral last year for exposing fraud in Minnesota, just released his next hit: Over $190 Million in Medicare and Medicaid fraud exposed in New York City's Queens neighborhood. And, that's not the only potential fraud exposed there.
On Friday, Shirley posted a documentary on X in which he exposes several social adult daycare centers he alleges committed fraud with American tax dollars. In the post, he further criticizes the fraudsters and the politicians who have done little to stop it:
“We all work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for fraudsters to steal from our pockets. These fraudsters have been able to defund American taxpayers for years without any pushback from the public and politicians. Time is up”
In one example of alleged fraud, a social adult daycare center, Sunrise Senior Service, was alleged to have obtained $44 million fraudulently over the past few years. Shirley confronted the organization, and met a client outside who admitted that the Sunrise Senior Service had given her a kickback, despite the owner’s previous denial that his organization offered kickbacks. Shirley claimed, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) data, that the organization claimed 7,899 patients in 2024, despite its limited real estate.
Sunrise Senior Service officially operates as a provider of geropsychology, a form of psychology that applies psychological methods to the needs of the elderly, according to its National Provider Identifier information. In the documentary, however, Shirley and the owner discuss the organization with an understanding that it is an adult daycare center.
New York Medicaid covers adult daycare, according to the New York Department of Health website.
Nick Shirley teams up with CMS Director Dr. Oz toward the end of the documentary. Dr. Oz alleges in the video that pharmacies and medical equipment companies have scammed the American taxpayer tens of millions of dollars.
Dr. Oz touted the documentary on his official X account:
“Flushing, Queens, NYC—an epicenter for one of the biggest fraud rings you’ve never heard of: Social adult daycares.
In Queens, NY alone, social adult daycares generate $2.1 Billion
@nickshirleyy and I investigated, and the War on Fraud continues.”
These were not the only fraud allegations leveled against businesses in that neighborhood this year.
This past February, the Department of Justice charged two men in the same Queens neighborhood in connection to an alleged $120 million Medicare and Medicare Fraud scheme.
In February, the DOJ charged Inwoo Kim, who owned Royal Adult Daycare and Happy Life Inc., and Daniel Lee, program director at Happy Life. Kim and Lee were charged for providing kickbacks to those who filled prescriptions at their pharmacy and for providing unnecessary services:
“Between 2016 and 2026, Kim and Yang paid illegal bribes in the form of cash and supermarket gift certificates to Medicaid recipients and Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to fill prescriptions at Kim’s pharmacy”…
….
“In total, Medicare and Medicaid paid approximately $120 million for prescription drugs and social adult day care services that were medically unnecessary, not provided, or induced by kickbacks and bribes.”
In all, the two investigations have uncovered approximately $310 million in potential fraud.
