Victim of fraud Steven J. Dorfman, who lied to his Hollywood, Florida-based insurance company clients into purchasing insurance that left numerous owing thousands of dollars for medical treatments, received a sentence of 25 years in prison on Wednesday.
Dorfman, 40, registered no sentiment and made no remarks during the sentencing hearing in East St. Louis, Illinois, five weeks after a jury convicted him on 13 misdemeanor counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit scams, said Scott A. Verseman, associate U. S. counsel in the Southern District of Illinois ‘ Chief, Fraud and Corruption Section.
In a sentencing recommendation filed in June, plaintiffs ‘ attorneys had requested that Dorfman be sentenced to 30 years in prison, citing that” the level of cruelty demonstrated by defendant Dorfman in the present case is rarely seen in a fraud case.”
Prosecutors claimed that Simple Health Plans defrauded 420, 000 people by having Dorfman read the scripts, which were “revised, edited, and tightly controlled,” claiming that the insurance plans the company sold complied with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and would cover inpatient and emergency hospital care, surgical procedures, medical and laboratory testing, and preexisting medical conditions, prescription drugs, primary and specialty care treatments, primary and specialty care treatments, inpatient and emergency hospital care.
In reality, the customers purchased limited indemnity plans that only offered small sums of money, leaving the patients to pay 100 % of what they left, they claimed.
Simple Health earned$ 192 million over six years in commissions alone, Verseman said. However, he claimed that the fraud by the company caused consumers to pay far more in premiums than medical debt when they learned that their doctors or hospitals would not accept their coverage.
Verseman claimed that two Simple Health victims gave testimony both at the trial and the sentencing hearing. A woman claimed that medical expenses she assumed would be covered had destroyed her credit, making her claim that she is no longer able to get a loan to purchase a home.
Verseman claimed a victim claimed she and her husband owed$ 40,000 in medical debts, which they believed would be covered by the Simple Health policy. ” They were n’t able to get a loan that they needed for their business as a result”, he said. ” They ended up closing their small business, and they’re still dealing with all of the ramifications of the debt and it’s been very stressful”.
Reached after the sentencing, Dorfman’s attorney, Paul A. Sand only stated that Dorfman intends to appeal because” I believe the jury saw evidence that was not properly acknowledged,” Sand added.
John A. was also found guilty by the jury. Sand, 49, who served as executive vice president of the company, on the same charges as Dorfman. However, on May 7, U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn overturned Sand’s conviction, stating that the jury was not given evidence that he had engaged in any of the fraud.
A third defendant, Candida L. Girouard, who served as Simple Health’s chief compliance officer, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in November. On May 15, she received a six-month prison sentence followed by two years of in-home confinement.
The company operated out of call centers in Hollywood, Boca Raton, Doral, Dallas, Texas, the Dominican Republic and Panama.
It generated leads from websites that popped up when potential customers looked up “health insurance” and” Obamacare” terms. Many of the sites contained references to the Affordable Care Act, ACA, Obamacare, and legitimate companies like AARP and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
According to the sentencing recommendation filed by the prosecution, employees in the customer service department of Simple Health received 300 to 500 calls a day from customers, many of whom were crying. They complained that the policies did not cover their medical expenses as they were supposed to and that their doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers were not included in the discount program associated with the policies.
Dorfman, the filing states, developed a” Saves Team” to try to mollify the customers and convince them that the plans had significant value and provided good coverage.
The judge granted the forfeiture of Dorfman and Simple Health Plans ‘ assets shortly after the conviction. They included a 2015 Rolls Royce Wraith and 2013 Land Rover Range Rover. The two luxurious vehicles can be seen in Dorfman’s wedding photos that were published in a South Florida magazine and in a federal trade commission lawsuit filed to shut the business down in 2018.
The wedding, at St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort, cost$ 300, 000, the FTC said. Dorfman has since divorced.
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