Jacquez Dion Tullis, 42, of Wellington, Fla., was sentenced Nov. 12 to 84 months in prison. The Justice Department said he used six sham cosmetic surgery clinics and stolen identities to take about $2.3 million from medical lenders.
Mr. Tullis pleaded guilty July 21 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II of the Southern District of Florida also ordered five years of supervised release. He must pay $2,309,859.44 in restitution and faces a forfeiture money judgment of the same amount.
From about April 2018 to February 2024, Mr. Tullis and his co-conspirators registered the clinics with the Florida Department of State. They used stolen personal information from practicing physicians and others, sometimes listing physicians as owners without their knowledge. The clinics claimed to offer cosmetic surgery but provided no treatment.
Two FDIC-insured banks and four financial technology companies approved the clinics as merchants. The group then submitted fraudulent credit card applications in the names of more than 100 people, seeking about $3.1 million. Death records showed some of those people had died before the dates of their supposed procedures.
“Jacquez Tullis built fake medical clinics using stolen identities, including those of practicing doctors and deceased individuals, and used them to steal millions from lenders,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
Mr. Tullis also submitted at least nine fraudulent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications in 2020 that sought $696,860. Earlier this year, co-defendant Taneika Nakia Pace, who managed two of the clinics, was sentenced to six months in prison. Co-defendant Junaque Nicole Tullis received eight months.
Prosecutors charged all three as part of the Justice Department’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown.
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