Health care fraud has grown over the past 10 years in the U.S.

A massive health care fraud has been discovered, as officials hit 111 defendants with fraud charges on Thursday.

Attorney General Eric Holder explains this as the largest Medicare fraud bust in the history of the United States.

Throughout the country, defendants were allegedly conducting over 40 schemes, usually unrelated to each other.

Areas affected by these crimes include Chicago, Miami, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. The intention of the fraud was to obtain over $225 million from the U.S. government.

Experts explain that many cases involve doctors and other health professionals. Most were believed to be acting alone in the fraud attempts.

One well-known case is that of Aleksandr Kharkover. A physical therapist in Brooklyn, he was featured in Wall Street Journal and explained to be involved in potential physical therapy fraud, one area of Medicare fraud that has recently been on the rise.

Over the course of nearly six years, Kharkover billed Medicare close to $12 million, receiving payments of more than $7 million. He is alleged to have billed for unnecessary services, or services that may have never even been performed.

Each case is being handled individually at this point.