Putin’s Diplomats To U.S. Busted For Living High Life Off $1.5M Bilked From Medicaid

Federal prosecutors have charged 49 Russian diplomats and their spouses with cheating Medicaid out of $1.5 million, which some of them used to buy concert tickets, helicopter rides and shopping sprees at Tiffany’s and Bloomingdale’s in New York.

Despite the charges, no arrests have been made and no trials are likely, as the Russians have dimplomatic immunity, prosecutors acknowledged. At most, the U.S. could expel the 11 of the 49 charged believed to still be in the country.

The charges come as relations between the U.S. and Russia have soured amid disagreements over Syria and Iran, but a State Department official in Washington downplayed the impact of Thursday’s actions in New York.

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