A Raleigh lab owner just admitted he helped steal more than $60 million from taxpayer-funded health programs using fake COVID and flu tests and illegal kickbacks.
Story Overview
- A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to a massive fraud and kickback scheme related to Medi-Cal and Medicare.
- His California lab used fake contracts and paid “collectors” $17 million for fake samples linked to identity theft.
- The lab billed more than $96 million for fake COVID, flu and RSV tests, taking more than $60 million from taxpayers.
- He now faces up to 13 years in prison, fines, asset seizures and significant restitution to federal programs.
Lab Owner Admits Massive Taxpayer-Funded Fraud
Federal prosecutors say Raleigh resident James Shuford Price III, 59, pleaded guilty in federal court to paying illegal kickbacks for referrals to his California laboratory, Golden Star Labs, and to filing a false federal income tax return. Price’s laboratory submitted more than $85 million in false claims to California’s Medi-Cal program and more than $11 million in false claims to Medicare for multi-panel testing covering COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. These false claims led government programs to send more than $60 million to the lab.
At sentencing, Price faces a statutory maximum of 13 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He will also be required to pay restitution to Medi-Cal, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Internal Revenue Service and other victims. Prosecutors also say federal authorities seized millions of dollars in assets tied to the scheme, demonstrating how much money can be taken from taxpayers when fraud goes unchecked in massive government health systems.
Bribes, fake contracts and identity theft
According to the Justice Department, Golden Star Labs hired so-called “collectors” in California and other states to collect test samples from people covered by Medi-Cal and Medicare. Under Price’s leadership, the lab paid these collectors based on the number of samples they delivered, a clear violation of federal health laws prohibiting payments tied to referral volume. Between August 2023 and January 2025, the laboratory paid more than $17 million to these collectors, a colossal sum used to fuel the fraud machine.
Prosecutors say the collectors didn’t just find real patients in need of testing. Instead, they provided massive quantities of fake samples obtained under fraudulent conditions, including through widespread medical identity theft. Golden Star Labs then billed Medi-Cal and Medicare for testing these fake samples, effectively taking millions of dollars away from programs intended to protect seniors, disabled Americans, and low-income families. In some cases, stolen physician identities were used to make the allegations appear legitimate, thereby turning honest physicians into unwitting pawns in the scheme.
False compliance and false tax declaration
To hide the illegal bribes, Price had Golden Star Labs sign written contracts with collectors who claimed to follow the law. These contracts stipulated that the laboratory would pay a fixed fee and would not base payments on the number or value of references. In reality, prosecutors say the lab continued to pay the collectors on a per-specimen basis anyway, using the false documents as a cover while the kickback scheme continued underneath. The result was millions of dollars in government payments based on false compliance and outright corruption.
Price also admitted to filing a false federal income tax return for 2022 by failing to report income from multiple sources, including money related to prior fraudulent activities. This means that the project didn’t just attack health care programs; he also deceived the tax system that funds essential government services, adding an extra layer of dishonesty to bribes and misrepresentations. This case shows how complex fraud often affects several areas at once: billing, taxes, contracts and identity theft.
Why this case matters to conservative voters
The case is part of a broader pattern of health care fraud that watchdog groups say drains between 3 and 15 percent of global health care spending each year. Bribes, fake billing, and medical identity theft are common tactics used to exploit massive government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. When bad actors fabricate lab tests and charge for services that never happened, they do more than waste money. They burden honest patients, strain already strained budgets, and give big government advocates an excuse to demand even more oversight instead of addressing abuses.
SO MUCH FRAUD AND CORRUPTION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Raleigh man pleads guilty in $60 million Medi-Cal and Medicare kickback scheme https://t.co/6mzqup5U9u
– MickiAnn (@MickiAnnOH) June 27, 2026
For conservatives, the facts highlight two key points. First, strong law enforcement and honest oversight are necessary to protect taxpayer dollars when government administers large programs. Second, every dollar stolen by fraudsters like Price is a dollar that cannot help families trying to afford real care, nor seniors who rely on Medicare to work as promised. Cases like this should push leaders to strengthen controls against fraud, punish bribery and rethink how giant federal programs can be made smaller, simpler and less attractive to criminals.
Sources:
mairie.com, abc11.com, wwaytv3.com, oxygen.com, podme.com, Yahoo.com, morganverkamp.com, nhcaa.org
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