Yukee pictured with Bulgari necklace, ferrari, and multi-million dollar beach resort (AI generated)
$906M Medicare Fraud: Nevada Nurse Indicted for Bilking Taxpayers with Fake Grafts on Hospice Patients
Marizel Yukee and co-conspirators allegedly submitted nearly a billion dollars in fraudulent claims to fund luxury lifestyle
By Megan Barth, June 23, 2026 9:35 am
A Las Vegas-based nurse practitioner has been federally indicted in one of the largest Medicare fraud schemes in recent years, accused of billing taxpayers nearly a billion dollars for medically unnecessary wound grafts, including on terminally ill hospice patients who died shortly after receiving them.
Marizel Yukee, a Nevada-licensed nurse practitioner from Las Vegas, was indicted June 18 in Houston federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, wire fraud, illegal kickbacks, and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that from October 2023 to April 2026, Yukee and co-conspirators, including her daughter, submitted more than $906 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and TRICARE for amniotic wound allografts. The government paid out roughly $297 million.
Yukee allegedly owned and controlled multiple wound care clinics, including Wound Medic in Pearland, Texas, with operations spanning Texas, Nevada, California, and Hawaii. Claims averaged over $1 million per patient, with grafts often applied to non-infected, already-healed, or ineligible wounds to inflate profits. Some hospice patients reportedly died days after treatment.
She is also accused of paying and receiving millions in illegal kickbacks for patient referrals and product use.
Court filings detail lavish purchases funded by the scheme, including:
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- A Ferrari supercar worth over $500,000
- An $865,000 Bulgari diamond necklace
- A $1 million Hawaii home
- A $4.6 million beach resort under construction in the Philippines
Federal agents have seized vehicles including a Porsche, Mercedes, Escalade, and Teslas, plus hundreds of thousands in cash. Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of additional properties.
A viral video captures Yukee’s multi-year scam.
— Ladyofyourlife (@orleansway) June 22, 2026
Yukee was recognized in 2025 as one of the “100 Most Influential Filipinos in the World“ by The Outstanding Filipino Awards (TOFA), a self-described international awards program. Her profile in the awards program highlighted her work founding wound care clinics and efforts in wound care, autism awareness, and charity. Her hometown of Tuguegarao City publicly congratulated her for the recognition in late 2025.
This case underscores the massive scale of Medicare and hospice fraud plaguing the system. Related California Globe reporting has exposed similar widespread abuse, including:
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- Hospice Fraud Explodes in California: 742 flagged providers, $105 million overbilled in L.A. County alone, with ghost offices and minimal oversight despite state “crackdowns.”
- Operation Never Say Die: Federal takedown of a $50 million Medicare hospice scam involving phony facilities billing for non-terminally ill patients.
- Broader investigations revealing hundreds of millions in suspected California hospice and home-health fraud, highlighting systemic vulnerabilities that enable these schemes nationwide.
This case is part of a broader epidemic of Medicare and hospice fraud that federal authorities say costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars annually. In its record-breaking 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, the DOJ charged 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals, with schemes involving over $14.6 billion in alleged fraud losses. False Claims Act recoveries in fiscal year 2025 reached a historic $6.8 billion overall, with more than $5.7 billion tied to healthcare matters.
Yukee has not commented publicly on the allegations. She is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
