FIRST ON FOX: The president of a Florida insurance brokerage firm and the CEO of a marketing company were sentenced Wednesday to 20 years each in prison for leading a sprawling, $233 million Affordable Care Act fraud scheme that preyed on Florida’s most vulnerable residents — including homeless and jobless individuals and newly displaced hurricane victims — to pocket millions in unearned commissions.

Cory Lloyd, 46, of Stuart, Florida, and Steven Strong, 42, of Mansfield, Texas, were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for their roles in the scheme, which involved lying and falsifying government forms to obtain coverage for individuals and lying to or bribing would-be enrollees to sign up for plans even when they knew doing so would cost them their existing insurance coverage. In addition to their prison time, the pair were ordered to pay $180.6 million in restitution to their victims. 

Lloyd and Strong profited handsomely for years from the scheme, Justice Department officials said, using the proceeds to purchase luxury vehicles, an 80-foot yacht and an oceanfront home in the Florida Keys.

«Preying upon medically compromised consumers to rob hundreds of millions of taxpayer-funded programs is evil and unforgivable,» Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

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«Fraud schemes like this rob citizens and shake faith in our institutions. Today’s sentencing is the latest example of this DOJ’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, Justice Department officials with knowledge of 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 intentionally took advantage of people who had nothing. The message from these sentences is simple: Those who seek to line their own pockets with taxpayer dollars, victimize our most vulnerable and deplete federal programs will be held accountable.»

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

Prosecutors said at trial that Lloyd and Strong conspired to circumvent federal income and eligibility verification safeguards. They also intentionally submitted Medicaid applications designed to trigger denials, allowing them to steer those same individuals into fully subsidized Affordable Care Act plans outside the open enrollment period, maximizing commissions year-round.

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Former President Trump denied wanting to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Getty Images)

Their lavish lifestyle contrasted starkly with that of the individuals they lied to and scammed. 

«One of the really awful things about the case is that it’s not only a scheme that’s taking money from the elderly and the disabled and defrauding the taxpayers, but that it actually resulted in real harm to the patients as well,» one Justice Department official said in an interview.

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

Text messages introduced at trial showed Strong and Lloyd discussing sending «street marketers» into Florida hurricane shelters to recruit enrollees.

In one text exchange, Strong suggested sending their team of «street marketers» into Florida hurricane shelters to recruit enrollees. Lloyd responded enthusiastically, stating, «It’s a killer idea, if we could 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 or unemployment or qualified for Medicaid coverage — an insurance option for low-income or vulnerable populations that, in many cases, best suited their needs.

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

This included an individual «living in the woods behind Walmart» who was suffering 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 and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, delivers remarks during a press conference announcing the largest health care fraud case in history. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Like others, this individual had previously been enrolled in Medicaid, which covered the entirety of a $2,000 shot used to treat the schizoaffective disorder. Enrollment in an Affordable Care Act plan caused the individual to lose that coverage.

The sentencing comes as the Justice Department has moved aggressively to crack down on healthcare fraud, including through its ongoing «strike force» program that operates across 25 federal districts and has resulted in criminal charges against about 5,000 individuals, according to information shared with Fox News Digital.

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

Justice Department officials noted the amount is «many, many, many times our annual budget.»

Como una paradoja ideológica que marca el desorden político que golpea Perú, la izquierda volvió al poder con José María Balzacar Zelada, tres años y dos meses después de la destitución del presidente Pedro Castillo, hoy preso y condenado a 11 años, 5 meses y 15 días de cárcel por conspiración.

Balcazar, de 83 años, gobernará por apenas cinco meses y dos semanas, hasta el 28 de julio, un país en crisis y en plena campaña electoral.

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El veterano líder izquierdista, que salió del Partido marxista Perú Libre, le entregará el poder al candidato que resulte electo en las elecciones del 12 de abril próximo.

De esta manera la izquierda volvió al gobierno de manera inesperada cuando todo hacía prever la elección de la derechista María del Carmen Alva en el Congreso.

¿Habrá indulto a Pedro Castillo?

Balcazar, antes de ser electo presidente, dejó la puerta abierta a un indulto a Castillo. “El sur pide su liberación”, dijo, al aludir a las manifestaciones a favor del expresidente izquierdista en su feudo electoral.

Esta posibilidad amenaza con causar un terremoto político en un país que atraviesa una crisis institucional interminable y que ya lleva ocho presidentes en los últimos 10 años.

Su sorprendente asunción como presidente encargado generó una profunda incertidumbre en el país, en especial en el ala conservadora del Congreso. Pero también generó profundas dudas en la izquierda.

¿La causa? El partido Perú Libre está sumido en una grave división interna.

“No está claro que puede pasar. Balcazar viene de Perú Libre, pero ya había renunciado. Estaba como congresista independiente. Se peleó con (el líder de la agrupación, Vladimir) Cerrón, que estaba peleado con Castillo. Todo está por verse”, dijo a TN el analista político David Rivera, gerente de producción de la TV Vibe Perú.

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Cerrón, un dirigente de la izquierda radical, está actualmente en la clandestinidad. Sobre él pesa una orden de prisión preventiva dictada en 2024 por colusión agravada y asociación ilícita. A Balcazar se lo llegó a mencionar como el hombre de confianza de Cerrón.

Para Rivera, la elección de Balcazar se entiende porque Perú Libre es un gran operador político que aprovechó la crisis institucional del país y el profundo rechazo que generaba la candidata derechista María del Carmen Alva, acusada de racista y de malos tratos hacia sus pares, entre fuerzas conservadores y de centro. Así se lo presentó como un postulante de “consenso”.

Pero ahora habrá que ver si logra articular un gobierno de transición no confrontativo que lleve en forma tranquila el último período de un gobierno que deberá organizar las elecciones presidenciales.

Quién es el nuevo presidente del Perú

Balcázar tiene una extensa carrera profesional como abogado. Llegó a ser juez superior y juez supremo provisional pero fue apartado de la Corte Suprema tras ser señalado por modificar una sentencia firme.

Desde 2021 es congresista en representación de la región de Lambayeque, en la costa norte del país.

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Tras la asunción de Castillo, fue un enérgico defensor de su gobierno hasta su destitución el 7 de diciembre de 2022 tras intentar un autogolpe. Pero poco después se alejó de Perú Libre.

Su figura generó una enorme controversia en el país por sus polémicas opiniones vertidas en 2023 en un debate parlamentario sobre la prohibición del matrimonio infantil.

Entonces, argumentó que las relaciones sexuales a temprana edad “ayudan al futuro psicológico de la mujer”. Estas declaraciones suscitaron la condena de ONG y partidos políticos.

Incluso, antes de su elección como presidente encargado, el Colegio de Abogados de Lambayeque cuestionó su idoneidad para asumir el gobierno.

Según recordó, fue expulsado de la entidad porque “se le imputaron cargos éticos, civiles y penales, como la apropiación de fondos de la institución, cambio de titularidad en las cuentas en distintas entidades financieras, querellas, defraudación de persona jurídica, etc”.

Además, desde 2024, enfrenta una acusación por presunta corrupción.

A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison Thursday for leading an insurrection after declaring martial law in December 2024.

Yoon was found guilty of abuse of authority and masterminding the insurrection.

Yoon, 65, denied the charges and argued that he had presidential authority to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties’ obstruction of government.

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Prosecutors said in January that Yoon’s «unconstitutional and illegal emergency martial law undermined the function of the National Assembly and the Election Commission … actually destroying the liberal democratic constitutional order.»

Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law lasted roughly six hours, sparking mass street protests before parliament quickly voted it down.

Under South Korean law, masterminding an insurrection carries a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

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Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 19 for leading an insurrection after declaring martial law in December 2024. (AP)

While courts last imposed a death sentence in 2016, South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997.

Yoon is expected to appeal the ruling.

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Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol greets his supporters after he came out of a detention center in Uiwang, South Korea, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP)

Yoon faces eight ongoing trial proceedings and was already given a five-year prison sentence last month in a separate case on charges including obstructing authorities’ attempts to arrest him following his martial law declaration. He has appealed that sentence.

Reuters contributed to this report.