A Raleigh man who ran a California COVID testing lab has admitted to a sprawling kickback and tax scheme that pulled in tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, prosecutors say.
James Shuford Price III, 59, of Raleigh, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in federal court to paying illegal kickbacks tied to patient referrals and to filing a false federal tax return. Prosecutors say the California laboratory he owned submitted test claims that produced more than $60 million in reimbursements from Medicare and California’s Medi‑Cal. At sentencing, Price faces a statutory maximum of 13 years in prison, potential fines and restitution obligations.
Price owned and operated Golden Star Labs (GSL), a Los Angeles facility that, prosecutors say, billed Medicare and Medi‑Cal for thousands of illegitimate multi‑panel tests for SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID‑19), influenza and RSV between August 2023 and June 2025. According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina (U.S. Attorney's Office), GSL submitted more than $85 million in false claims to Medi‑Cal and over $11 million in false claims to Medicare, with reimbursements to the lab exceeding $60 million. Prosecutors say GSL paid more than $17 million to so‑called "collectors" who supplied bulk, bogus specimens and that many of the claims relied on stolen clinician and beneficiary information.
How investigators say the lab ran the scheme
Federal filings describe written contracts that were dressed up to look lawful while payments to collectors were actually volume‑based kickbacks that induced referrals. Investigators say the lab briefly paused operations in February 2024, supposedly to "clean up" billing, then went right back to using fraudulent specimens and phony test authorizations generated from misused provider data. During parts of the scheme, nearly all Medi‑Cal claims were tied to a handful of clinicians whose personal identifiers had been stolen and misapplied.
Statements from prosecutors and investigators
“Stealing taxpayer dollars that should be used to help legitimate beneficiaries is lowdown, dirty pool,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said, adding that those who steal federal dollars will be pursued. FBI and IRS‑CI officials said the case shows how coordinated work across agencies can unmask large, cross‑jurisdictional frauds and protect taxpayer‑funded healthcare programs.
Charges, penalties and next steps
Price pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks and to filing a false federal income tax return for 2022. Court documents say he failed to report multiple sources of income, including money tied to a prior investment scam. At sentencing he faces a statutory maximum of 13 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine and three years of supervised release, and he will be ordered to pay restitution to Medi‑Cal, Medicare and the IRS, according to local reporting by ABC11. The case is docketed as Case No. 5:26‑CR‑00087‑M‑1 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Wider enforcement context
The plea is one part of a broader national crackdown on healthcare fraud. The HHS Office of Inspector General has posted an overview of the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown (HHS‑OIG). Local coverage of the plea appeared in ABC11's Raleigh‑Durham reporting, which relayed the U.S. Attorney’s release and noted Price’s Raleigh ties (ABC11).
