Hurricane ‘contractor’ hits the casinos instead
A 79-year-old healthcare CEO is sentenced for more than $1 billion in Medicare fraud, a Bradenton contractor stands accused of spending hurricane victim repair funds at a casino, and a former Florida insurance agency executive learns his fate from leading an ACA health insurance scheme. It’s all in this week’s Fraud News.
Healthcare Software Scam: Called “one of the largest health care frauds in our nation” by prosecutors, for years Gary Cox and his co-conspirators ran a healthcare software service known as Power Mobility Doctor Rx, which falsely billed Medicare for medical equipment, paying illegal kickbacks from signed doctors’ orders through the online platform to telemarketers. In total, the company defrauded more than $1billion, targeting Medicare beneficiaries with mailers, advertisements, and cold calls. Cox and his cohorts would contact pharmacies and medical equipment manufacturers, and put them in touch with telemarketers, who would receive payment for each signed doctors’ order routed through the site. The 79-year-old was handed a 15 year sentence last month in Miami federal court, as prosecutors demanded a lengthy sentence in accordance with the severity of the crime. Cox’s co-conspirators both plead guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Contactor to Casino: After 2024’s Hurricane Milton, police say Brian Michaud approached residents of Seabreeze Mobile Home Park in Bradenton to make repairs on their property – reportedly pocketing over $220,000 under the name of “RedFin Construction.” However, the 54-year-old Michaud was not a licensed contractor, and never completed any of the projects. When the 14 victims, ranging in age from 62 to 95, reported the suspicious activity, investigators found that Michaud had moved the money between several personal and business accounts, spending over $53,000 at casinos and using other portions of the money on daily expenses and construction materials which never made it to Seabreeze. He now faces a litany of felony charges, including 10 counts of presenting someone else’s contractor license during a declared state of emergency, scheming to defraud $50,000 or more, aggravated white-collar crime against an elderly victim of $50,000 or more, and misappropriation of construction funds of $100,000 or more. The investigation continues as detectives solicit further information on any other victims.
ACA Scheme in South Florida: A Pembroke Pines insurance broker has been sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to repay millions of dollars in restitution for leading an Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance scheme that fraudulently enrolled thousands, many of whom proved to be homeless individuals. Prosectors say Dafud Iza, former VP of the Fiorella Insurance Agency in Stuart, paid people $5 or $10 each to sign up for ACA, gaining commissions on enrollments, and in the process defrauding the program of about $134 million. Prosecutors say Iza and his accomplices, Cory Lloyd and Steven Strong, knew that the enrollees were ineligible for the program and unlikely to be able to pay the federal premiums. Because Iza plead guilty last April, accepting full responsibility and providing information on Lloyd and Strong, he received a more lenient sentence. DFS found that Iza’s licensure as a temporary life insurance broker, health insurance agent, and property and casualty producer were all considered invalid by the time of his arrest in 2025. Lloyd and Strong have both been convicted and will be sentenced in February.
LMA Newsletter of 1-20-26
