Gavin Newsom failed to protect California taxpayers from massive fraud, and now there is mounting pressure for answers and accountability after the discovery of widespread fraud in the state’s elder care industry, as described in a scathing new letter from California’s Republican congressional delegation.
“The scale of these findings points to systemic weaknesses that have allowed fraud to escalate, harming vulnerable patients and taxpayers,” said the letter sent Monday and obtained exclusively by The California Post.
At the heart of GOP lawmakers’ concerns is a lack of safeguards, and the state’s apparent failure to adopt emergency regulations despite a mandate given by the Legislature to do so following a 2022 state audit report.
“They’re lifting the ban without setting new guidelines, so we want to know why that is and ask some specific questions about that,” Congressman Jay Obernault told The Washington Post.
Newsom issued a moratorium on nursing home licenses after the review, but emergency regulations intended to strengthen oversight and regulations introduced in December of 2025 were withdrawn just days later, according to the letter.
While the letter notes that emergency regulations appear to have been actively adopted, they have not been formally reintroduced — instead, the moratorium has been extended until 2027.
“Gavin Newsom was asleep at the wheel and failed to protect California taxpayers from widespread fraud,” Congressman Ken Calvert said. “We need California to wake up and take action to stop this fraud.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Congresswoman Young Kim, who also signed the letter and called on the nation’s leadership to “look the other way.”
“While hard-working Californians struggle to make ends meet, nursing home fraud appears to be thriving,” she said, adding, “Someone has to hold Sacramento accountable, and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
This is the second later in as many months, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced an investigation into “rampant” fraud in California nursing homes in March — calling Newsom and the state a “well-documented history of fraud in nursing home programs” and estimating the total at more than $105 million.
The California GOP’s message comes as nursing home fraud has taken center stage in the Trump administration’s mission to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
Earlier this month, a California Post investigation uncovered a network of shady doctors who appear to be billing tens of millions in questionable bills in California’s nursing home system, and led to Dr. Fariba Javaherian, a registered dermatologist, losing her license to bill Medicare along with 16 other nursing facilities.
Javaherian was associated with 63 nursing facilities across California as either a medical director, attending physician or other position, and appeared in more than 6,000 claims worth $35,816,331, according to CMS billing data obtained by The Post.
Federal authorities also launched a series of raids in April targeting people accused of health care fraud, leading to the arrests of eight people including three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist, who all face federal charges for allegedly defrauding the nation’s health care system of more than $50 million.
“We all have a stake in making sure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and appropriately,” Obernault said. “Everyone loses when we allow scammers to take those dollars from people who are legally entitled to them.”