Nevada Nurse Practitioner Indicted in Alleged $906M Skin Graft Fraud Scheme

Image source: LinkedIn, Indictment

A Nevada nurse practitioner has been indicted in Houston in what prosecutors describe as a sprawling Medicare and TRICARE fraud scheme built around medically unnecessary wound grafts, fake documentation, and illegal kickbacks. In the indictment, prosecutors say Marizel Yukee and her co-conspirators “targeted elderly Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom were terminally ill in hospice care,” and caused the grafts to be applied to vulnerable patients.

The case was filed June 18, 2026, in the Southern District of Texas. According to the indictment, Yukee owned and controlled four wound care companies — Wound Medic LLC, My BestHealth First LLC, AllCare Mobile Wound Treatment LLC, and Oracle Wound Treatment LLC — that operated across Texas, Nevada, California, and Hawaii. No DOJ press release had been published as of the date of this article; the Houston Chronicle first reported the indictment. 

Nurse.org reviewed the four clinic websites mentioned in the indictment, which remain active as of the date of this article. Each shows near-identical service descriptions across all four properties and no listed clinical staff or credentials on any of them. Three of the four sites share the same listed web developer. One site includes patient reviews that name the defendant by first name.

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The indictment says that from October 2023 through April 2026, Yukee and her co-conspirators submitted more than approximately $906 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and TRICARE for medically unnecessary amniotic wound allografts and related services. Prosecutors say the programs paid more than approximately $297 million on those claims. The filing adds that, through her four clinics, Yukee submitted “an average of over $1 million in claims per Medicare beneficiary for allografts.”

Prosecutors allege the scheme relied on three overlapping elements: applying allografts that weren’t medically warranted, altering records to make them appear as if they were, and billing Medicare above the actual cost of the products. The indictment alleges that some patients had not completed “conservative wound care”, some wounds were already infected or healed, and some patients were terminally ill. It also says that, in at least some cases, hospice patients “died within days of the allograft application.”

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The indictment says Medicare required providers in Noridian’s jurisdiction to report the “total invoice price” for allografts without an established ASP, meaning the net amount actually paid after discounts, rebates, and refunds. Prosecutors allege Yukee ignored that requirement and billed Medicare far above her actual cost. In one quoted email, she allegedly wrote: “invoice price 1600 charge 3900.”

The filing further alleges that records were retroactively altered to make the grafts appear medically necessary. Prosecutors say Yukee instructed staff to add missing conservative-treatment documentation after the fact, with one email allegedly reading: “add conservative to all of them who don’t have.”

The indictment also describes a kickback network tied to referrals and purchasing. Prosecutors say Yukee paid travel and other benefits to induce referrals, and that a Las Vegas facility administrator texted her, “Once I get that I will give u your first 3. To 5 patients.” In addition, the government alleges that a family-controlled shell company received about $15.95 million in illegal kickbacks from a distributor between January 2024 and January 2025.

The indictment says Yukee used the alleged proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a $594,000 Ferrari 296 GTS, a $158,000 Cadillac Escalade, an $865,000 Bulgari necklace, a million-dollar home in Hawaii, and a $3 million certificate of deposit. Prosecutors also allege she spent about $4.6 million on a beach resort project in the Philippines.

The government says the scale of the scheme was significant enough to trigger asset seizures and a money judgment. The indictment says prosecutors are seeking to recover vehicles, accounts, and real estate linked to the alleged fraud.

Skin substitute fraud has become a major enforcement focus, and Nurse.org has been tracking the recent wave of related cases. The Yukee indictment shows why federal investigators are paying close attention: prosecutors say high-dollar wound care billing, retroactive charting, and referral kickbacks can turn a clinical practice into a federal fraud case.

This case is especially relevant for nurses and nurse practitioners in wound care, home health, and post-acute settings. The indictment itself says Medicare reimbursed certain allografts only if they were medically reasonable, medically necessary, accurately documented, and not procured through illegal kickbacks.

For clinicians, the message is blunt: documentation, product acquisition costs, and referral relationships are not side issues — they are core compliance risks. The indictment also makes clear that a nursing license does not shield anyone from exposure if investigators believe the provider was central to the scheme.

Marizel Yukee has been charged but not convicted, and she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Nurse.org will update this article as the case develops.

🤔 Wound care is one of the most underappreciated skills in nursing. What’s something about it you wish more people understood? Tell us in the comments below.

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