The Georgia family behind the now-bankrupt Aliera health plans has agreed to a California settlement that calls for just over $5 million in civil penalties, but court filings say they are telling the state they do not have the cash to cover the full amount. It is the latest twist in a years-long collapse that left thousands of former members holding large, unpaid medical bills.
Bankruptcy records and court rulings put unpaid member claims at roughly $660 million, and the liquidating trustee has been pursuing insiders and vendors to claw back money. In an earlier insiders' deal, the family agreed in December 2023 to direct about $7.4 million back into the Aliera liquidating trust, according to court summaries. CaseMine details the filings and adversary proceedings.
In filings tied to the California case, the family - former CEO Shelley Steele, her husband Tim Moses and their son Chase Moses - told regulators they do not have enough money to pay the full penalty, even as trustees alleged the trio improperly took millions out of company coffers. Channel 2's investigation also gathered vivid stories from former members left with six-figure medical bills and reported that roughly $4 million of the family's penalties were suspended based on sworn financial disclosures. WSB-TV has been tracking the consumer complaints and court filings.
What California's settlement does
The Los Angeles Superior Court signed off on terms that bar the Moses family and their company, First Call Telemedicine, from doing business in California and require them to pay more than $5.1 million in civil penalties. The California Department of Justice said part of those penalties is suspended based on the defendants' sworn financial disclosures and can be brought back in full if regulators later find any material misrepresentations. California DOJ published the settlement notice and a statement from Attorney General Rob Bonta.
What this means for former members
Even with the new California payments and the earlier $7.4 million insider recovery, the cash recovered so far represents only a sliver of the roughly $660 million in unpaid claims estimated in the liquidation. Regulators and trustees are still chasing assets, but coverage of the earlier California action noted that a separate $34 million penalty against Aliera and Trinity was largely symbolic because both companies are bankrupt with limited assets. Becker's Payer Issues and court records describe how limited any recoveries are likely to be for individual former members.
Legal implications
The settlement resolves California's pending claims against the remaining defendants in the state and locks in permanent injunctions that prevent the family from marketing or operating similar plans there. Regulators warned that the suspended portion of the penalty can be made immediately enforceable if the defendants materially misstate their finances or violate the judgment. A release from California DOJ frames the case as both a consumer protection action and an effort to preserve what is left of the estate for former members.
Looking ahead
Former members and advocates say the settlement provides a measure of accountability but nothing close to full relief. "We had a life-threatening emergency. They failed us and her," one family told Channel 2, while others describe the new sums as "a drop in the bucket" compared with the debts left behind. WSB-TV reported those firsthand accounts alongside the court filings.
