A Lamborghini, a mansion and more: How a Jupiter man spent health insurance fraud money

FORT LAUDERDALE — A federal judge has sentenced a one-time sober home operator from Jupiter to four years in prison for defrauding a health insurance benefits program of more than $4 million.

Joseph Toro, 39, received his sentence on Wednesday, April 10, during a hearing in Fort Lauderdale before U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith. Toro pleaded guilty in February to one count of health care fraud.

Federal prosecutors said Toro used fraudulently obtained insurance benefit payments to purchase a waterfront mansion in Jupiter, a Lamborghini Aventador, a Mercedes G Wagon and two Cadillac Escalades, as well as an Audemars Piguet watch, along with various other properties and luxury vehicles.

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Toro owned and operated Reawakenings Wellness Center in Miramar from 2013 to January 2018, when the business was evicted from its location.

Despite the eviction, Toro continued to submit insurance claims to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) using the information of former patients. The claims were for substance-abuse treatments that were never provided, federal prosecutors said.

For more than a year, Toro submitted fraudulent claims on behalf of 29 patients totaling more than $6.7 million. As a result, he received $4.2 million in payments from FEHB, court records show.

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He also applied for a federal $150,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan intended to help struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that his business had shut down years earlier.

At the sentencing hearing, Smith ordered that Toro's prison term be followed by three years of probation and that he pay $4.4 million in restitution.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jupiter man funded life of luxury on health insurance fraud money