A U.S. federal court has sentenced Nigerian national Henry Ezeonyido to 27 months in prison for leading a multimillion-dollar health insurance fraud that involved fabricating emergency medical treatments allegedly received abroad.
The 37-year-old was also ordered to pay $655,313 in restitution and forfeit $396,998 in proceeds from the scheme. Upon release from prison, he will serve an additional three years under supervised monitoring.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between October 2019 and February 2022, Ezeonyido orchestrated a complex fraud involving false claims submitted to five health insurance companies. The claims, made in his name and those of at least seven others, described fabricated incidents such as shootings, stabbings, and car crashes that supposedly required costly treatment in foreign hospitals.
“In reality, the individuals involved never left the United States and did not receive any of the claimed treatments,” the department noted.
Ezeonyido was arrested in July 2024 along with co-conspirators Brendon Ashe, Aqiyla Atherton, Darline Cobbler, and Ariel Lambert. He was formally indicted two months later. While all four co-defendants pleaded guilty and received probation, Ezeonyido, identified as the ringleader, received a custodial sentence.
Prosecutors said the fraudulent claims triggered insurance payouts of over $655,000, with some participants receiving kickbacks for their involvement. Ezeonyido personally retained nearly $400,000 of the total proceeds. Atherton, one of the co-defendants, acted as a recruiter, bringing others into the scheme in exchange for a cut of their payments.
“Victim insurance companies were billed for over $1 million in fake services,” the DOJ said.
Officials emphasized the wider implications of such scams. “Healthcare fraud harms every American by driving up costs and eroding trust in the system,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua Foley. “We remain committed to rooting out this kind of deception.”
The case underscores the continued focus of U.S. authorities on tackling both domestic and transnational fraud rings that target the healthcare system.
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