A federal jury on Wednesday convicted 43-year-old Simon Katz of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, finding that he took part in a scheme that billed Medicare for in-home services that were never actually provided and relied on falsified patient records. Prosecutors say the conduct centered on HealthNow Home Healthcare, a Hayward agency that submitted those claims to Medicare for reimbursement.
Katz, who prosecutors say has been tied to a superseding indictment against HealthNow, has been under the microscope in a multi-agency probe into the company’s billing practices. The criminal case has been winding its way through the system for several years and includes filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
How investigators say the scheme worked
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, court filings describe a pattern of phony or back-dated Start-of-Care notes, the use of clinicians’ identities without their knowledge, and the direction of non-nurses to complete assessments that Medicare rules say must be performed by registered nurses. Prosecutors say those documents were then used to support claims billed to Medicare for services that were not provided. Filings also allege that Katz instructed an employee to lie to federal agents about nursing supervision during patient assessments.
Regulatory fallout
Per the California Division of Workers’ Compensation, state regulators moved to suspend HealthNow’s participation in the workers’ compensation program and cited the federal criminal docket in their notice. The state document lists the company’s service address as 2493 Technology Drive in Hayward and encloses court records that underpinned the suspension decision.
Money and co-defendants
As noted in an update from the FBI San Francisco, investigators say HealthNow received more than $3 million in Medicare payments tied to the allegedly fraudulent claims, and that Katz received roughly $300,000 from the company during 2020. Veronica Katz previously pleaded guilty in April 2024 and was sentenced in December 2024 to two years in prison, with an order to pay $543,634.34 in restitution and a $50,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
#FBI Case Update: Yesterday, a federal jury convicted Simon Katz of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a scheme to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and falsify medical records. According to evidence presented at the trial, Katz conspired with his wife,… pic.twitter.com/FFAB9xQ5kS
— FBI SanFrancisco (@FBISanFrancisco) July 23, 2026
Legal implications
Per Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, a conspiracy conviction under the federal health care statutes carries the same penalties as the underlying offense, generally up to 10 years in prison and fines, with higher maximums if a patient suffered serious bodily injury. Sentencing for Simon Katz has not yet been scheduled publicly, and the court is expected to set a date as the case moves forward in the Northern District of California.
Why it matters
Federal authorities say schemes that bill Medicare for care that is never rendered both drain taxpayer funds and can put patients at risk, and the HealthNow prosecution fits into a broader enforcement push this year. The HHS Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice have said the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown involved hundreds of defendants and alleged billions in false claims, highlighting how aggressively federal officials are chasing abusive billing practices.
Hoodline previously covered an earlier chapter of this investigation when Veronica Katz was sentenced. See our look at the earlier sentencing in the case, which provides local background on HealthNow’s operations and the probe’s origins. We will update this story as additional court filings and sentencing dates become public.
