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NYC adult daycare operators charged with committing over $500K in Medicaid fraud
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Oct 21, 2026 at 4:14 p.m. ET
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Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Oct 21, 2026 at 4:14 p.m. ET
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Two operators of a social adult daycare center on Staten Island have been arrested on charges they defrauded Medicaid out of more than $500,000, including billing for services to people who were dead, the Staten Island district attorney announced Wednesday.
Mother-and-daughter team Yangsim Oum and Juyoung Choe, the Staten Island Social Adult Day Care Center's owner and program director, allegedly billed Medicaid for providing services to people who didn’t show up — including some who were deceased or were out of the country at the time, Richmond County DA Michael McMahon said.
The pair could face up to 15 years in prison on more than 400 counts of healthcare fraud and falsifying business records, according to an indictment shared with Gothamist.
Social adult daycare centers across New York City are at the center of a sweeping fraud investigation by local, state and federal agencies. These centers provide activities and meals to seniors with cognitive impairments or disabilities and bill Medicaid based on daily attendance at their programs.
The arrests took place Tuesday as nearly a dozen other centers in Brooklyn and Queens were raided in actions that Gov. Kathy Hochul said were part of ongoing investigations into suspected Medicaid fraud. Interviews were conducted at 20 centers under investigation and another 80 received letters, according to the state Department of Health.
“New York has zero tolerance for anyone who steals from taxpayers because every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar that should be used to help New Yorkers get care and services they desperately need,” Hochul said.
McMahon said the announced arrests were the only ones made on Staten Island on Tuesday, since the other investigations are still underway. State officials did not provide additional details on the other investigations.
The governor said she approached Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to join forces on the fraud crackdown.
The governor has emphasized her commitment to eliminating Medicaid fraud as the Trump administration has made it a national priority. Congressional Republicans and members of the Trump administration have cited fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system as part of the justification for sweeping healthcare cuts that were executed last year.
Hochul’s office said the state has been working to improve oversight of social adult daycare centers since they were first approved to bill Medicaid for their services in 2013.
Between 2021 and 2025, New York’s Office of the Medicaid Inspector General investigated 387 potential cases of Medicaid fraud at social adult daycare centers and referred more than 100 of them to the state attorney general for potential criminal prosecution, according to Hochul’s office.
Last month, the owner of two social adult daycares in Coney Island was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for conspiring to defraud Medicaid out of about $64 million through bribes and kickbacks.
McMahon said his office is also investigating other adult day care centers on Staten Island.
Tagged
Health and Science
medicaid
new york city
public safety
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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