A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida convicted an Oklahoma business owner and chiropractor yesterday for his role in a yearslong scheme that attempted to bilk Medicare, TRICARE, and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) out of over $30 million by purchasing patient information, medical practitioners’ signatures, and doctors’ orders for orthotic braces and glucose monitors that patients did not want or need.
Court documents say that Mark Loftis, 39, of Cushing, Oklahoma, paid over a million dollars to marketers who worked with call centers to persuade elderly and disabled Americans to provide their personal information, including their healthcare insurance information. Loftis and his co-conspirators then used that information to obtain signed orders for orthotic braces and continuous glucose monitors, which were generated by telemedicine doctors and nurse practitioners who never examined the patients and often never spoke to them.
Loftis and his co-conspirators used these doctors’ orders to bill federal healthcare programs. Loftis also concealed a conspirator’s management role in his company and his billing of claims generated by other unenrolled medical suppliers. In total, Loftis obtained over $8 million from the false and fraudulent claims.
Loftis continued the scheme for three years despite receiving a steady stream of complaints from beneficiaries and family members of beneficiaries who reported that their elderly parents suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, making them especially vulnerable to the sales tactics of Loftis’s conspirators.
“The defendant turned private medical data into a pipeline for personal profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Every fake doctor’s order generated was a direct attack on systems built to care for some of our nation’s most vulnerable. Yesterday’s verdict makes clear that if you exploit our seniors and military families to fill your own pockets, you will answer for every dollar stolen.”
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The jury convicted Loftis of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“The defendant bought patient data and used it to generate sham medical orders, targeting seniors and people with disabilities for exploitation. This scheme sought to drain millions from federal health care programs meant to support Americans in need,” said Miranda L. Bennett, Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “This verdict makes clear that HHS OIG and our law enforcement partners will hold accountable anyone who tries to defraud these programs or prey on the people they serve.”
HHS-OIG, FBI, DCIS, and VA-OIG investigated the case.
Acting Assistant Chief Catherine Wagner and Trial Attorney Raymond Beckering III of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal healthcare programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, is taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in healthcare fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
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