A San Diego-area mother and daughter are accused of turning Medicare into their personal revenue stream, with federal agents saying the pair ran a billing scheme that allegedly sought nearly $9.5 million from the program. Court filings allege the daughter provided patient care while using her mother's provider credentials, even during a stretch when the mother was behind bars. Their arrests are part of a broader federal crackdown on health care fraud involving multiple agencies and jurisdictions.
According to the FBI San Diego, agents arrested Blanca Cardenas and her daughter, Raquel Pasillas, earlier this month. Court documents cited by the agency allege Pasillas submitted Medicare claims under Cardenas' provider number while Cardenas was incarcerated. The FBI said the joint probe with the HHS Office of Inspector General falls under the Department of Justice's 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. That nationwide enforcement push has charged hundreds of defendants and alleged more than $6.5 billion in fraud, according to reporting summarized by HealthExec.
Public records link the two women to local medical and business operations. Federal provider listings show a Blanca E. Cardenas with a National Provider Identifier and a San Diego practice address, as reflected in the NPI registry at NPIViewer. California business records also identify a Chula Vista limited liability company naming both women as principals, according to BizProfile. County court dockets show the same names together in a 2024 civil fraud case, providing investigators with an existing paper trail tied to billing activity, according to San Diego Superior Court.
Investigators' allegations
Federal filings and investigators' summaries describe a billing setup that allegedly routed patient services and reimbursement claims through the mother's provider number so that Medicare would pay, even when Cardenas was not the one delivering care. The arrangement, prosecutors say, effectively let one provider credential stand in for two people.
"Those who commit health care fraud cause real harm because they drain critical resources from programs meant to support some of our most vulnerable community members," FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily said in the agency's post, according to FBI San Diego. The investigation is still active, and agents and prosecutors are reviewing detailed billing logs and interviewing witnesses as they sort out how much of the nearly $9.5 million in alleged claims Medicare actually paid.
#FBISanDiego, along with our partners at @OIGatHHS, arrested Blanca Cardenas and her daughter, Raquel Pasillas, earlier this month for a health care fraud scheme that billed Medicare nearly $9.5M. Court documents allege Cardenas was in prison while her daughter treated patients… pic.twitter.com/nE84q7PDzr
— FBI San Diego (@FBISanDiego) June 23, 2026
Legal implications and next steps
Federal health care fraud cases like this often bring a mix of potential criminal charges, including conspiracy and health care fraud, along with civil and administrative measures such as asset forfeiture and suspension of Medicare billing privileges. The Justice Department's national takedown materials note that enforcement frequently includes seizures of cash and luxury assets, as well as administrative suspensions while criminal cases move forward, according to reporting on the DOJ announcement by HealthExec.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of California will determine whether to seek formal indictments from a grand jury. If indictments are returned, the case would move into arraignment and pretrial scheduling in federal court, where attorneys for Cardenas and Pasillas would have their first formal opportunity to respond to the allegations.
San Diego enforcement context
The case lands in the middle of an aggressive federal push targeting Medicare and durable medical equipment billing in the San Diego region. Recent FBI San Diego and HHS-OIG investigations have produced several multi-million dollar prosecutions. One San Diego-area case last spring culminated in a guilty plea tied to nearly $51 million in false Medicare claims, underscoring how large the alleged payouts can get when fraudulent billing goes unchecked.
Local providers say the latest arrests reflect increasingly sophisticated use of data analytics and cross-agency cooperation to flag billing patterns that stand out from the norm. Federal officials, for their part, say more details will be made public as the Cardenas and Pasillas case moves through the system. For now, the arrests and the court filings behind them offer a window into how investigators are marrying local records with national claims data to pursue suspected Medicare fraud in Southern California.
