FBI agents served search warrants Wednesday morning on three hospitals as part of an investigation into alleged Medicare fraud involving homeless patients who were recruited from skid row.

At the same time, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced civil litigation against the three hospitals and their operators in what local and federal officials allege was a scheme to defraud the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs out of millions of dollars.

Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, an owner and the chief executive of City of Angels Medical Center, and Estill Mitts, an alleged patient recruiter, were indicted by a federal grand jury last week on 21 counts of healthcare fraud, money laundering and income tax evasion. The men were arrested this morning as part of the federal government’s criminal investigation, according to an FBI spokeswoman.

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