FLUSHING, N.Y. — Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz confronted employees at two New York City senior care centers over suspected Medicaid fraud, challenging their billing practices as Digital got an exclusive look at the crackdown in action.

Oz, accompanied by senior federal health officials, delivered warning letters to Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care in Flushing, Queens, during a broader fraud crackdown that involved the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the NYPD and other agencies.

The letters notified the facilities that their billing practices had raised concerns among federal authorities. The two visits by Oz were part of a broader crackdown in which CMS officials conducted more than 80 visits and delivered warning letters to providers across New York City on Tuesday.

Digital accompanied Oz as he pressed employees about questionable billing records and challenged their explanations for how taxpayer dollars were being spent.

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«The whole experience was suspicious,» Oz told Digital in an exclusive interview following the visits.

Oz said federal authorities were conducting a broader crackdown that included arrests, search warrants and efforts to stop certain operators from billing Medicaid, although Digital did not independently witness those enforcement actions at either Queens facility.

Kent Senior Care declined comment during a phone call with Digital on Tuesday. Evergreen Adult Day Care did not immediately respond to Digital’s request for comment. 

The first stop came around 8:30 a.m. at Kent Senior Care, where Oz entered the facility and personally handed its director a letter from the federal government notifying the business that its billing practices were under scrutiny.

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«The bills are much higher than they should be,» Oz told the director. «The billing is for more people. It doesn’t look very crowded here.»

The director pushed back during the exchange, explaining that it was still early and additional seniors would arrive later in the morning, as Oz questioned whether the facility’s Medicaid billing records accurately reflected its actual attendance.

The occupancy of the space was 70 persons, according to an observe posted maximum occupancy sign on the wall.

«The bills we’re getting are as though it’s completely full all the time,» Oz said.

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The director maintained that the facility billed only for seniors who actually attended, and that it required participants to sign attendance sheets.

«You’re getting this letter from the U.S. Government because we don’t believe you,» he told the director.

During the exchange, Oz also questioned why the center’s billing records appeared to reflect seniors attending five days a week when the director acknowledged that many participants typically attended only two or three days.

The director insisted the facility billed for actual attendance and said some seniors attended more frequently than others.

The confrontation intensified when Oz and other federal officials raised questions about specialized transportation services billed for seniors using wheelchairs.

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«I don’t see any wheelchairs here,» Oz told the director.

Digital observed seniors inside the facility, including individuals using walking aids, but did not see anyone using a wheelchair during the visit.

Another official said billing records included charges for specialized wheelchair transportation, raising questions about whether the services had been provided and which company was responsible for submitting the charges.

The director said some seniors had mobility difficulties, including those recovering from strokes, and that the facility had wheelchairs available. He also said that workers could have copied information from previous files instead of properly updating the billing codes as it applied to wheelchair use.

«Probably he just copy and pasted,» the director said.

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During the visit, Oz walked over to several mahjong tables set up inside the facility, questioning whether taxpayer dollars were being properly spent on the recreational activities offered through the Medicaid-funded program.

«Should the American taxpayers be paying so folks can play mahjong?» Oz asked the director.

The director defended the activity, explaining that mahjong helps seniors exercise their fingers, socialize and improve their memory, particularly those experiencing cognitive difficulties.

«It’s free for them, not free for the taxpayers,» Oz responded. «Is that what our federal tax dollars for Medicaid is supposed to go to? Or is it life-saving heart surgery? Or, you know, new therapies for cancer?»

Oz raised additional concerns about the facility’s attendance records after observing seniors entering without signing in, despite the director’s insistence that participants were required to document their attendance.

«People were just walking in there without signing anything,» Oz said. «And then after I showed up and he saw what we were doing with my team, he started collecting these documents to be signed.»

Oz said the apparent inconsistencies raised further questions about whether the facility’s attendance records accurately reflected the services being billed to Medicaid.

Digital also witnessed several seniors enter Kent Senior Care without immediately signing attendance sheets. Additional seniors who arrived later were instructed to sign in.

Social adult day care programs can provide eligible seniors with structured activities, supervision, meals and social support. Medicaid reimbursement depends on applicable program rules, individual eligibility and documentation of services provided.

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At the second stop, Evergreen Adult Day Care, Oz confronted a floor manager over another set of billing discrepancies before examining the facility’s attendance records.

The manager told Oz that approximately 200 seniors attended the facility on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, compared with about 150 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, although it was unclear whether those figures represented total daily attendance or the number of seniors present at one time.

But Oz questioned those numbers after walking through the facility and observing significantly fewer people.

«So I look at maybe 25 people in the whole space now,» Oz said.

The manager disputed that estimate, explaining that some seniors were participating in classes while others had left to shop, visit a pharmacy or attend medical appointments.

«The numbers don’t seem to add up,» Oz responded.

Oz also questioned the manager about wheelchair-related billing, asking how many participants used wheelchairs.

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The manager initially indicated that none did before acknowledging that a small number of seniors used them.

«But you said there weren’t any, were you?» Oz pressed.

He subsequently discussed the apparent discrepancy with other federal officials accompanying him.

«I’m struck by how few people are here as well,» Oz said. «This makes me wonder how they sustain these billing levels.»

The visit took another turn when Oz examined the facility’s attendance books, which he said contained «fraud.»

Digital observed sign-in sheets that appeared to contain names entered for Oct. 22, and Oct. 23, dates that had not yet occurred at the time of the visit.

The entries dated Oct. 22 and Oct. 23, both after the visit, raised questions about whether the facility was documenting attendance in advance, although Digital could not immediately establish whether the entries were completed attendance records or advance schedules.

Oz said federal authorities believed organized criminal networks were exploiting the Medicaid-funded programs by offering seniors money to attend facilities and then billing the government for services that were not actually provided.

Oz alleged that individuals he described as being connected to the «Chinese mafia» were paying some seniors between $1,000 and $1,200 to participate in fraudulent billing arrangements, though the administrator did not identify a specific criminal organization or provide supporting evidence during the interview.

Oz said the federal government had identified significant spikes in billing across the industry and claimed that annual spending on the programs had approached $1 billion.

«We know from the billing here that there’s no way this business is running in the way that they claim to be running without something being wrong,» Oz told Digital.

«Is it an innocent mistake? A hundred times in a row, I don’t think so.»

Oz alleged that proceeds from fraudulent Medicaid billing schemes were being used to finance other criminal activities, including money laundering and human trafficking, although Digital had not independently verified those connections or established any such link to the two facilities visited.

«It’s really a clubhouse for crime,» Oz said while describing the alleged broader scheme.

He said fraud accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and criticized the previous administration for failing to address what he described as rapidly rising spending and suspicious billing.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul acknowledged the crackdown on Tuesday, calling it part of a «massive effort to combat fraud and abuse» in Medicaid and confirming that state health officials had joined federal and state law enforcement in targeting suspected fraud at social adult day care programs.

While Oz personally delivered warning letters to the two Queens facilities, state, local and federal law enforcement officials were simultaneously conducting searches at other locations across New York City as part of the coordinated crackdown.

Specific details about the facilities targeted, individuals involved and evidence recovered were not immediately available as the investigations remained ongoing.

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PARIS, France: Paris is burning. Yet again. But this time, according to officials and analysts, it’s different. And unrest here could have a lasting impact on France… perhaps the world.

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I have been covering protests in France for decades. I lived in Paris for nine years. I know that the French are very skilled at taking politics to the street. The recent upheaval has many worried.

From all the people I hear from on the ground here, the rioting has been more violent, more destructive, more profound. Domestic strife seemingly out of control.

FRANCE IS DEVOURING ITSELF AS SCHOOL RIOTS REVEAL A CRISIS FAR BIGGER THAN BROKEN CLASSROOMS

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Greg Palkot, senior foreign affairs correspondent for Fox News Channel  at the Place de la Republique in Paris. Oct. 19, 2026. (John Templeton/Fox News)

When I approached the bar at a brasserie near Place de la Republique, the server asked if I was an American and a journalist. After replying yes to both he concluded, «So you’ve come to cover the civil war.»

The numbers tell the tale. Some 2,500 arrests during the last weekend of clashes between protesters and police. Around 1,000 officers injured. Many hurt, some seriously, on the activists’ side. And about 3000 businesses impacted, trashed, looted. Damage estimated over one billion dollars.

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FRANCE’S MASSIVE INTEL FAILURE SPARKS RESIGNATION OFFERS AMID DAYS OF RIOTING

Graffiti covers historic monument in the Place de la Republique. Paris, France. Oct 20, 2026. (John Templeton/Fox News)

What was most striking were the attacks on official buildings. An historic city hall in Limoge. A police headquarters in crime-ridden Marseille. An important tourist office in Lyon. Symbols of a French government under siege.

The mostly peaceful protests supporting recent student concerns, as well as working and middle-class economic worries, hijacked by those bent on anarchy. And opportunistic young crooks looking for cheap thrills.

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Yes, there are immigrants and foreigners amid the rabble. Plus, those said to have ties with so-called «ultra-left» groupings. But this remains a very French uprising. Which in a way makes it even more unsettling.

Nearly ten years of rule by President Emmanuel Macron has left this country more divided, with promises unfilled, anger near the surface. And violence a real danger.

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Burned-out cars litter the streets in Paris by the Place de la République (John Templeton/Fox News)

What was also deeply troubling about the latest bout of violence — and authorities have admitted it — is that there were periods of time when parts of Paris and other cities were out of control. Shop owners were forced to fend for themselves.

All of this plum pickings for politicians on the left and right. Either sympathizing with protesters’ demands. Or calling for more law and order. Both sides slamming those in power. With presidential elections upcoming in six months, timing is everything.

With the French treasury bare, it seems the more pressing and more promising route for the current authorities is greater security.

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Graffiti on the wall by the Place de la Republique in Paris, France on Oct. 19, 2026. (John Templeton/Fox News)

That’s why top government officials have been speaking out about their planning for the next big protest set for this weekend. French Prime Minister Lecornu says it will be countered by a «massive police operation» backed by the military. Activists will have to choose, Lecornu went on to say, between «violence» and the French «republic.»

«Do or die» talk that still does not address the underlying problems, not just facing France but other countries as well. That’s why, in addition to the curiosity factor of everyone being intrigued by France, it could also provide some real-time lessons on how or how not to deal with a brave new world of inequality and dwindling resources.

See you at the «barricades.»

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Greg Palkot serves as a London-based senior foreign affairs correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in 1998 as a correspondent.

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Striking a Make America Safe Again tone, Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman blasted Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul as the «most pro-criminal governor» during a Monday campaign event riding the New York City subway system, which has been plagued by violent crimes and commuter safety fears.

«I have not heard from one person, and from all the people, that it’s safer on the subways and public transportation in New York,» Blakeman said as he rode the subway. «I’ve heard just the opposite. Everybody says they feel less safe.»

«So we want them to feel safe,» he said.

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Blakeman, a Nassau County executive, is a former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Now running for governor, he was campaigning Monday in the densely populated city, which is overwhelmingly a Democratic stranglehold.

«Hire more police officers, hire more conductors, clean up our subways and get help for those who are emotionally ill – get them help that they need; not have them roam around our subways,» Blakeman told reporters as he rode the subway, targeting both the governor and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the deep-blue area.

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«The crime in the subways has gone up tremendously under Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani,» Blakeman lamented. «They are not committed to public safety. I will be committed to public safety. I will make sure that our public transportation is safer and cleaner for the traveling public.»

«That’s how you get more people back in public transportation, not by putting a tax on them with congestion pricing, which is nothing more than a tax on the middle class,» he added.

NEW YORKERS TAKE ZOHRAN MAMDANI FREE BUS PROMISE LITERALLY AS MTA LOSES MILLIONS IN SKIPPED FARES

Blakeman hit Democrats for being negative influences on public safety, and Hochul specifically, for having «reduced the number of conductors on our trains and subways.»

MAMDANI CLASHES WITH DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS’ PUSH TO ABOLISH POLICE AND PRISONS

More police patrolling the subways and improving the lighting in dimly lit subway systems are on Blakeman’s priority list, but he also discussed having more conductors manning the subways.

Hochul vetoed Albany legislation that would have required conductors on more subway trains, leaving the MTA’s one-person train operation program in place versus the June 2025 state-passed bill requiring at least two-person crews — an operator and conductor.

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Hochul vetoed that bill on Dec. 5, 2025, arguing it would restrict MTA modernization efforts and cost up to $10 million annually.

«Police are very important, but I think people feel very comfortable and very safe when they see a conductor,» Blakeman said. «I want to increase the numbers so that people feel safe.»

Blakeman called Hochul «the most pro-criminal governor in the United States of America,» citing several criminal-justice and immigration policies.

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«Whether it’s cashless bail, Raise the Age, the HALT Act, Clean Slate, or refusing to cooperate with ICE and federal agents, she has made us less safe,» he said, striking at Democrat-backed legislation long rebuked by police groups and Republican public safety hawks.

Cashless bail limits when judges can require defendants to put up money to be released. Raise the Age generally keeps 16- and 17-year-olds out of adult criminal court, while the HALT Act limits solitary confinement and changes prison disciplinary practices. The Clean Slate law seals certain criminal convictions from public view after a designated waiting period.

«People feel less safe in every community that I go to in New York State,» Blakeman said.

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