Insurance execs sentenced in $230m Obamacare fraud scheme

First on Fox: The president of a Florida insurance brokerage and the CEO of a marketing firm were each sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for leading a sprawling $233 million Affordable Care Act fraud scheme that exploited Floridians’ most vulnerable residents — including homeless individuals, the unemployed and newly displaced hurricane victims — to reap millions in unearned kickbacks.

Corey Lloyd, 46, of Stuart, Florida, and Stephen Strong, 42, of Mansfield, Texas, were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for their roles in the scheme, which included lying and falsifying government forms to obtain coverage for individuals, and lying to or bribing potential enrollees to enroll in the plans — even when they knew doing so would cost them their existing insurance coverage. In addition to their prison term, the couple were ordered to pay $180.6 million in restitution to their victims.

Lloyd and strong It worked well for years Justice Department officials said the proceeds are planned to be used to purchase luxury cars, an 80-foot yacht and an oceanfront home in the Florida Keys.

“Exploiting medically vulnerable consumers to steal hundreds of millions from taxpayer-funded programs is evil and inexcusable,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital in a statement.

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US Attorney Pam Bondi speaks alongside President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

“Fraud schemes like this steal from citizens and shake trust in our institutions — and today’s ruling is the latest example of the Department of Justice’s commitment to fighting fraud nationwide,” Bondi said.

An estimated 35,000 individuals were fraudulently enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans during the years-long scheme led by Lloyd and Strong, Ministry of Justice Officials familiar with the case told Fox News Digital. The two sought more than $233 million in fraudulent payments, including about $180 million in federal Affordable Care Act funding.

“These defendants were sophisticated, licensed insurance brokers,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement. “They had everything and deliberately took advantage of people who had nothing. The message of these sentences is simple: Those who seek to line their pockets with taxpayer money, and harm our most vulnerable and exhausted federal programs, will be held accountable.”

The two intentionally targeted people in the state who were experiencing homelessness, according to court documents, and people with mental health disorders, including addiction to opioids or other drugs, according to materials reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Lloyd and Strong conspired to circumvent federal income and eligibility verification safeguards. They also intentionally submitted Medicaid claims designed to provoke denials, allowing them to direct those same individuals to fully subsidized Affordable Care Act plans outside of the open enrollment period — maximizing kickbacks throughout the year.

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Their lavish lifestyle is in stark contrast to the lifestyle of the individuals they lied to and deceived. “One of the really egregious things about this case is that it was not just a scheme to take money from the elderly and disabled and defraud taxpayers, but it actually resulted in real harm to patients as well,” a Justice Department official said in an interview.

This harm included individuals losing access to life-saving treatments for opioid use disorders, mental health disorders, and serious infectious diseases.

Text messages introduced during the trial showed Strong and Lloyd discussing sending “street marketers” to Florida hurricane shelters to recruit registrants.

In one text exchange, Strong suggested sending their team of “street marketers” to hurricane shelters in Florida to recruit registrants. Lloyd responded enthusiastically, “That’s a great idea, if we can pull it off!”

Prosecutors said the efforts were particularly harmful because they disrupted existing coverage plans and jeopardized access to treatment for serious conditions.

Many of the victims were experiencing homelessness, unemployment, or qualified for Medicaid coverage — an insurance option for low-income or vulnerable populations that, in many cases, better fits their needs.

Jurors heard a Jacksonville-based psychiatrist who treats homeless individuals testify about the harm some of his patients suffered as a result of fraud, causing them to lose their Medicaid coverage.

This included someone “living in the woods behind Walmart” who suffered from schizoaffective disorder, a person familiar with the case told Fox News Digital.

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Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, joined by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Mehmet Oz, delivers remarks during a press conference announcing the largest health care fraud case in history. (Kevin Deitch/Getty Images)

Like the others, this person was previously enrolled in Medicaid, which covered the entire $2,000 dose used to treat schizoaffective disorder. Enrolling in an Affordable Care Act plan resulted in the individual losing that coverage.

The ruling comes as the Justice Department has moved aggressively to crack down on health care fraud, including through its ongoing “Strike Force” program, which operates across 25 federal districts and has led to criminal charges against about 5,000 individuals, according to information shared with Fox News Digital.

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It also comes as the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Unit secured the largest national health care fraud takedown in its history in 2025, officials said — levying more than $15 billion in alleged losses and forfeitures and returning more than $560 million to the public.

Justice Department officials noted that the amount is “equivalent to several times our annual budget.”