A federal judge sentenced a Pembroke Pines insurance broker to almost three years in prison and millions of dollars in restitution for leading a scheme that fraudulently enrolled thousands of people—many of them homeless—in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans.
Dafud Iza, formerly vice president of Fiorella Insurance Agency, in Stuart, pleaded guilty in April to the scheme that paid low-income people $5 to $10 to sign up for ACA. Iza and co-conspirators gained commissions on the enrollments, but they knew that the would-be beneficiaries were not eligible and were unlikely to pay the federal health care plan’s premiums, prosecutors have said.
The plan defrauded the ACA program of $134 million.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Iza could have faced more years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. But because he accepted responsibility, pleaded guilty and provided information about others involved, a 35-month sentence is appropriate, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. The judge agreed.
Two alleged accomplices, Cory Lloyd, the chief operating officer of the Fiorella agency, and Steven Strong, who managed the effort to recruit consumers for the scheme, were convicted in 2025 and are set to be sentenced in February.
Iza once held a property and casualty producer’s license, a temporary life insurance broker’s license and a health insurance license, all of which were considered invalid by 2025, according to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
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