As part of the largest coordinated law enforcement action targeting health care fraud this year, a Hendersonville doctor and her office manager husband face serious charges. The indictments were announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee, thrown of a scheme that siphoned funds from Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield for alleged hospital services that never happened, according to a Department of Justice report.
Walking in this fraudulent dance for years, the couple, Xuhan Zhang, aka “Shelia Zhang,” aka “Xuhan Mei,” 62, and Jing Qi Mei, 65, are accused of billing for nonexistent inpatient physician services, including for patients long dead or no longer in hospitals. The indictment alleges that from 2017 to 2025, the couple submitted roughly $20 million in fraudulent claims, out of which $6.5 million were paid, according to the same DOJ announcement. In a bizarre twist of arithmetic, the charges include billing for more than 24 hours’ worth of services in a single day, a mathematical impossibility for all but those lost to avarice.
Part of the sting, named the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, has seen the wider net pulling in 324 defendants nationwide, all implicated in a massive web of fraud and illegal pill diversion, as detailed by DOJ representatives. The broader operation touted inter-agency cooperation, with a task force stretching across federal and state lines to bring down a gamut of wrongdoers alleged in the submission of over $14.6 billion in false billings. Assets amounting to a hefty $245 million were seized, including luxury vehicles and cash reserves. At the center of this financial maelstrom in Tennessee, seized items from the couple included around $6 million and a Tesla CyberTruck…