One person in Texas and four people in Florida, including a previously licensed insurance broker, face insurance fraud charges in separate schemes, local and federal authorities said Wednesday.
In Hialeah, Florida, three people were arrested at a medical clinic for their alleged role in staging auto accidents. Ofir Macias, 55, a therapist at MO Medical Center; Yisell Rojas, 39; and Ivian Nieto Lazo, 37, were apprehended when officers raided the clinic this week, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and local news reports.
Investigators apparently learned of the staged crashes after a driver involved in one tried to add another person to the accident report. The officer’s bodycam footage showed that the damage was inconsistent with the way the crash was described, NBC Miami reported.
People claiming to be in the crash told police that a co-conspirator had instructed them to go to the MO Medical Center to report fake injuries so that they could receive compensation.
Miami-Dade arrest records show that Macias was charged with racketeering, filing fraudulent insurance claims and fraud. Bond had not been set by late Wednesday.
Meanwhile, federal authorities charged former Florida licensed insurance broker Cory Lloyd with fraudulently enrolling homeless people in Affordable Care Act insurance plans, in order to obtain commissions on more than $161 million in payouts by the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a bulletin that Lloyd, 46, of Stuart, Florida, had been indicted by a grand jury. Steven Strong, 42, of Mansfield, Texas, was also indicted for his alleged role in marketing ACA plans and using misleading information, prosecutors said.
“The indictment alleges that Lloyd and Strong used misleading sales scripts and other deceptive sales techniques to convince consumers to state that they would attempt to earn the minimum income necessary to qualify for a subsidized ACA plan, even when the consumer initially projected having no income,” the Justice Department’s bulletin noted.
The men and other conspirators “enrolled and caused the enrollment of consumers in subsidized ACA Plans knowing that Florida
Care marketers working on their behalf had offered bribes in the form of cash, gift cards, food, and alcohol to induce such consumers to agree to enroll; coached consumers on how to respond to application questions to maximize the subsidy amount; and provided addresses and Social Security numbers that did not match the consumer purportedly applying,” the Feb. 12 indictment shows.
Lloyd formed Strong Opportunities, known as FloridaCare Insurance, the indictment notes.
Florida’s Department of Financial Services’ license records show that Lloyd once held life, health and general lines licenses two decades ago, but they were canceled by administrative actions at some point.
Lloyd held appointments with dozens of property-casualty insurers, many as recently as 2022, the DFS site shows. Lloyd could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.
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