A Wellington man who ran a network of fake cosmetic surgery clinics was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on Monday after admitting he and his co-conspirators swindled medical lenders out of $2.3 million using the stolen identities of more than 100 people, some of whom were already dead. Jaquez Tullis, 42, owned and managed Contour Medical in Tamarac and also ran Cosmetic Aesthetics in Fort Lauderdale and Radiance Beauty in Miami-Dade County, three of six sham clinics at the center of the scheme.
Tullis pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a Department of Justice news release reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. A factual proffer in the case says the group submitted more than 100 fraudulent loan applications using other people's names and personal information, including information belonging to practicing doctors, to register clinics without their consent. Those applications sought $3.1 million and ultimately brought in $2.3 million in reimbursements, the proffer states.
Clinics That Treated No One
The six clinics provided no real medical care, according to the DOJ release cited by the Sun Sentinel. The credit applications falsely claimed that loan funds would pay for cosmetic surgery and other medical services, but court records show some of the purported patients never knew the applications existed, had no interest in surgery, or had already died.
One case detailed in court records involved a man identified only as D.W., in whose name Tullis submitted a 2022 loan application listing him as the owner of Contour Medical. D.W. told investigators he had never heard of Contour Medical and did not know Tullis or the two other people involved in the scheme.
How The Scheme Exploited Medical Lending
The fraud targeted the way medical financing normally works. Providers typically apply to become approved merchants with lenders and enter merchant agreements that let patients finance out-of-pocket procedures not covered by insurance. Loan applicants submit credit applications specifying how the money will be spent, and once approved, lenders often disburse funds through a physical credit card intended for use at the approved provider — a system Tullis and his co-defendants allegedly manipulated by inventing patients and procedures that never existed.
In all, the scheme defrauded six lenders, including two FDIC-insured banks and four financial technology companies, per the Sun Sentinel's reporting on the DOJ release. Tullis separately submitted nine fraudulent Small Business Administration applications for COVID-19 relief loans in 2020, seeking nearly $700,000, according to the DOJ.
Sentence, Restitution and Co-Defendants
A judge sentenced Tullis on November 9 to seven years in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $2.3 million in restitution. Separate reporting from WPBF put his sentence at 84 months — the same seven-year term — and said he was also ordered to forfeit an amount matching the restitution figure.
Two co-defendants have already been sentenced. Taneika Nakia Pace, 50, of Hallandale Beach, who managed two of the clinics, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and was sentenced to six months in prison. Junaque Nicole Tullis, 46, of Coral Springs, who submitted at least five fraudulent COVID-loan applications seeking more than $160,000 in 2020, was sentenced to eight months in prison. WPBF reported that both women were previously sentenced for their roles in the scheme but did not detail the terms beyond what court records show.
