Federal prosecutors have accused a Henderson, Nevada physician of turning wound care into a $95 million billing scheme aimed at elderly Medicare patients, some of them in hospice care. A federal grand jury in the District of Nevada indicted Stephen Dubin, M.D., 74, on August 4, 2026, charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and five counts of health care fraud. Dubin has not been convicted, and the indictment itself states that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
A $95 Million Billing Scheme Built on Wound Grafts
According to the indictment, Dubin, the sole owner of Dubin Medical Consultants Inc., doing business as Wound MD, is accused of causing Medicare to be billed more than $95 million for amniotic wound allografts, a costly biologic material used to help chronic wounds heal, that he and others allegedly procured through illegal kickbacks and bribes. Medicare paid out more than $54 million based on those claims, prosecutors say. The allografts were allegedly applied to elderly Medicare patients, including patients in hospice care, without regard to medical necessity, among them wounds that were already infected, wounds not responding to the treatment, and cases where the required conservative wound care was never attempted, completed, or confirmed first.
Prosecutors allege Dubin received illegal kickbacks, bribes, and rebates from two allograft distributors, with some of the payments structured to look like legitimate “Rebate Agreements” while concealing their true nature. Rather than billing Medicare based on what he actually paid for the allografts, Dubin allegedly submitted claims using inflated, sham full-price invoices and kept the difference as profit alongside his co-conspirators. In one arrangement, the indictment alleges Dubin funneled kickbacks from a distributor through a pass-through bank account held under a shell company. To cover the lack of medical necessity, prosecutors say Dubin falsified patient medical records to make the allograft applications look medically reasonable and compliant with Medicare’s rules.
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Where Prosecutors Say the Money Went
The indictment alleges Dubin used the proceeds to fund what prosecutors described as a lavish lifestyle, including having multimillion-dollar yachts built for him. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division said the case “exposes a scheme driven by greed, not medicine,” and argued that Dubin “exploited elderly patients by pushing costly and unnecessary medical procedures, then lied to Medicare to pocket millions of taxpayer dollars.” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada said the case shows defendants “prioritized personal greed over patient care by weaponizing complex billing codes for advanced wound care products.”
If convicted on all six counts, Dubin faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count, for a combined statutory exposure of up to 60 years, though any actual sentence would be set by a judge under federal sentencing guidelines rather than by simply adding the maximums together.
The First Case From a New Nevada Strike Force
The indictment is the first announced case in Nevada from the Fraud Division’s West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force, a multi-district unit the Justice Department launched on April 30, 2026 to combine its Health Care Fraud Section with U.S. Attorney’s offices in Arizona, Nevada, and Northern California. The strike force sits inside a larger national program: the Justice Department says its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, now made up of nine strike forces around the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher S. Delzotto of the Las Vegas Field Office said the allegations describe “a betrayal of trust and exploitation” of Dubin’s position as a physician, while HHS Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Robb R. Breeden said schemes like the one alleged “siphon taxpayer dollars, undermine patient safety, and erode confidence in our health care system.” The FBI, HHS-OIG, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Chris Wenger and Shane Butland of the Fraud Section, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Oliva for the District of Nevada, are prosecuting it. No trial date had been set as of the indictment’s announcement.
Special Agent in Charge John Helsing of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Western Field Office also weighed in, noting that TRICARE, the health program covering active-duty service members, retirees, and their families, can be exposed to the same kind of billing manipulation the indictment describes, even though this case centers on Medicare. He said DCIS remains “steadfast in protecting TRICARE from individuals who manipulate medical billing for personal gain,” language that signals investigators are watching whether allograft billing schemes like the one alleged against Dubin extend into other federal health programs beyond Medicare.
For now, the six-count indictment against Dubin is an allegation only. No plea has been entered in the case, and prosecutors have not said when Dubin is expected to appear in court to answer the charges. Medicare beneficiaries who received amniotic wound treatment from Wound MD or a related provider have not been named as needing to take any action, since the charges target the provider’s billing practices rather than accusing patients of wrongdoing.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire editorial team.
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Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
