CVS got nailed for $289.9 million in Medicare fraud. That is not a typo. Two hundred eighty-nine point nine million dollars stolen from taxpayers and patients by a company that already makes billions. The case came from Sarah Behnke, a former Aetna actuary who blew the whistle in 2014. She exposed how CVS manipulated Medicare Part D drug prices. They fed inflated numbers to the government while pharmacies got paid less. CVS kept the difference. That scheme went on for years while patients rationed pills, begged for assistance, and buried loved ones. Judge Mitchell Goldberg tripled the damages to $285 million under the False Claims Act and slapped on another $4.9 million in fines. He ruled the fraud was deliberate, financially motivated, and not a mistake. CVS argued $95 million was plenty of punishment. That argument alone tells you everything about corporate arrogance. CVS now vows to appeal. Of course they do. Why admit guilt when you can burn another decade in court? The lawyers will bill millions. The executives will keep their bonuses. The patients who paid the real price will stay dead, broke, or broken. Justice delayed is not justice. It is corporate strategy. And this is not an isolated case. Just last month, CVS’ Omnicare unit was ordered to pay $948.8 million for fraudulent billing. Add it up. Over $1.2 billion in penalties in thirty days. That is not bad luck. That is the business model. Every one of those stolen dollars could have covered chemo, mental health care, or hospice. Instead it padded quarterly earnings. Fraud is profitable until someone fights back, and the people who fight back face retaliation, blacklisting, and years in court. Sarah Behnke risked her career to tell the truth. Most never speak up because they know what happens when you cross a company this big. The judge wrote that CVS broke Medicare’s trust and by extension the public’s trust. Translation: the system is rotten. When the government relies on corporations to tell the truth and they lie for profit, we are all screwed.