A Texas-based doctor was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for healthcare fraud after he carried out what prosecutors said was a nearly two-decade scheme that involved falsely diagnosing thousands of patients with degenerative diseases and profiting handsomely off their treatments.

Jorge Zamora-Quezada, a rheumatologist licensed to practice medicine in Texas, Arizona and Massachusetts before being stripped of his licenses in each state, raked in hundreds of millions of dollars for the misdiagnoses and treatment he ordered during his roughly 20 years as a medical practitioner. The treatments included punishing rounds of chemotherapy, intravenous infusions, and a battery of other tests, monthly visits, and regular procedures associated with the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic, autoimmune condition for which there is no cure.

The sentencing, and his earlier court appearances, played out at times like a study in contrasts. Prosecutors detailed his extravagant lifestyle, including a private jet, 13 properties across the U.S., including in Aspen and various towns in Mexico, and a Maserati – while the health of the patients he defrauded continued to worsen.  

Prosecutors accused him of taking advantage of vulnerable individuals in Texas, such as teenagers, elderly individuals, and disabled persons, in order to carry out the scheme. Some of them testified at Wednesday’s hearing about the ongoing side effects they suffered as a result of the doctor’s actions, including receiving chemotherapy or IV infusions they did not need. 

AMTRAK BILKED OUT OF $12M BY AT LEAST 119 EMPLOYEES, DOCTORS IN FRAUD SCHEME; MANY STILL ON THE JOB: REPORT

It’s “one of the most egregious” cases of its kind the Justice Department has brought in this space, Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department Criminal Division, told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview on Wednesday.

That’s because of “all of the various kinds of misconduct rolled into one,” he said, “and because it was pervasive – the scheme lasted more than 18 years.”

“By the time you’re towards the end of the scheme, he knows the consequences some of these things have had on the victims, and he’s going forward anyways,” he said of the doctor.

The Justice Department’s Criminal Division has been prosecuting this case for years. Unlike other departments, it is one of the few where career and political staff alike are largely in lockstep, with goals and cases that transcend partisan politics and seek instead to hold criminals like the Texas doctor accountable. 

Galeotti said he sees the case as emblematic of the Trump administration’s goals to vindicate victims and counter wasteful government spending.

“Even in cases where you don’t see this level of misconduct, where you’re not prescribing someone chemotherapy medicine that doesn’t need it, which obviously sort of stands out on its own, we still have a problem because you were wasting government funds that should be going to actually benefiting patients,” Galeotti said.

A BERLIN DOCTOR HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH THE KILLINGS OF 15 PATIENTS UNDER PALLIATIVE CARE

US President Donald Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi (L) arrive to speak at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP) (Getty Images)

A separate Justice Department official told Fox News Digital Zamora-Quezada’s case was one of the “most significant” instances of patient harm that he had seen in at least a decade.

“There was testimony about truly debilitating side effects from the medications, things like strokes, necrosis of the jawbone, really the jawbone melting away, hair loss, liver damage,” the official said. 

The doctor’s actions were seen as particularly egregious, in the Justice Department’s telling, because they sought to prey on lower-income communities in Texas, targeting teenagers, elderly persons, and disabled individuals. The doctor also operated in areas with less access to medical care and with fewer native English speakers compared to other parts of the state.

“Of course, it’s always the most twisted when you’re benefiting from someone else’s misfortune – misfortune you caused – and misfortune you used for your own personal enrichment,” Galeotti said.

“They’re the hallmarks of the worst kind of conduct that you see,” Galeotti said.

DOJ PROSECUTOR SUING TRANS MEDICINE WHISTLEBLOWER TAKEN OFF CASE OVER APPARENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST

“This investigation highlights an even greater concern presented by health care fraud than the significant financial losses – the physical and emotional harm suffered by the patients and their families,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Combs in 2018.  (Getty Images)

Zamora-Quezada was convicted by a jury in 2020 of seven counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice. His attorneys argued that the fraud was not “pervasive” in the way the government made it out to be, according to public court filings.

Prosecutors said Zamora-Quezada purchased condominium properties in vacation towns, including in Aspen, San Diego, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They said he commuted to his various doctors’ offices in Texas in a Maserati and a private jet, both emblazoned with his initials, “ZQ.” His assets were forfeited after he was charged, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, they said, while Zamora-Quezada was living a life of luxury, out of nearly 100,000 Medicare patients he treated, Zamora-Quezada diagnosed 72.9% of them with rheumatoid arthritis. Prosecutors compared that data to seven other Texas rheumatologists, who cumulatively diagnosed 13% of their patients with the same condition.

Prosecutors asked for $100 million in restitution, but the judge required him to pay $28 million.

Attorneys for Zamora-Quezada did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: Alexis Nungaray, the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, whose murder authorities say was at the hands of two illegal immigrants suspected to be Tren de Aragua gang members, told Fox News Digital that renaming a local wildlife refuge in her daughter’s honor would mean “the world” to her family.

Jocelyn Nungaray was sexually assaulted and strangled to death, allegedly by two Venezuelan illegals, Franklin Jose Pena Ramos and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, who were let through the southern border during the Biden administration. Her body was found tied up in a bayou in Houston.

Since her daughter’s murder, Alexis Nungaray has become a vocal advocate for increased border security and a supporter of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Nungaray said the tragic manner of Jocelyn’s death “takes away [from] who she was as a person.” However, she said that the renaming of a 39,000-acre wildlife refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast preserves Jocelyn’s memory for what she loved in life. 

TRUMP HONORS LIVES OF LAKEN RILEY, JOCELYN NUNGARAY WHILE CELEBRATING STRIDES ON SECURING BORDER

Trump issued an executive order on March 5 renaming the former Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Houston to the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, have since introduced bills to enshrine Trump’s executive order into law, making it more difficult for a future president to change the name of the refuge back. The Senate has already passed the bill, and Babin is working to pass it in the House.

Babin told Fox News Digital that his bill to codify Trump’s renaming of the refuge after Jocelyn is receiving bipartisan support and that he expects it will be passed by the House soon and be immediately signed by the president.

“This is a beautiful place. And if we name it after her, I think we will preserve her legacy,” he said.

“The main thing we need to remember is that this can never be allowed to happen again,” he added. “We get this thing in law, codified, no future president can ever undo this. And so, we will have a memory of what happens when you have bad policies that can create a system that will allow this to happen to innocent people like Jocelyn.”

TEXAS LAWMAKERS SEEK TO GET FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT FOR BIDEN-ERA BORDER CONTROL EXPENSES

Rep. Brian Babin told Fox News Digital that his bill to codify Trump’s renaming of the refuge after Jocelyn is receiving bipartisan support and that he expects it will be passed by the House soon and be immediately signed by the president. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

Nungaray said the effort to rename the refuge “touches every part of my heart and my family’s heart.”

“Everyone who knew Jocelyn knew she loved animals so much, knew she loved nature, wildlife,” explained Nungaray. “She truly loved all animals and all creatures, and she wanted every animal to have a place to call home.”

“Knowing that this national wildlife refuge is a place for a bunch of wild animals that travel through the country, and it is somewhere that they can call home, and it is somewhere that they can find a place of safety for them. I just know it would absolutely mean the world to her to know she has something in honor of her in that nature.”

She said that seeing the signs going up around Houston bearing her daughter’s name is “bittersweet.” 

TEXAS GANG MEMBERS SENTENCED FOR HUMAN SMUGGLING AFTER HIGH-SPEED BORDER CHASES

“I went out there to just go see what it was about, what it was like, and the amount of peace I felt just being there, it was just so pure and so peaceful,” said Alexis Nungaray. “Immediately I thought Jocelyn would love this. She would love to be out here.” (Norman Welsh via Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge website)

“I went out there to just go see what it was about, what it was like, and the amount of peace I felt just being there, it was just so pure and so peaceful,” said Nungaray. “Immediately I thought Jocelyn would love this. She would love to be out here.” 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“She wasn’t just a 12-year-old girl who was strangled and left in a bayou of water,” Nungaray went on. “She was a very creative, talented, free-spirited 12-year-old girl.” 

Smiling, Nungaray added that Jocelyn “was very quirky” and “an old soul.” She liked dressing in 1990s-style cargo jeans and Converse and loved listening to music from as far back as the 1940s and 1950s.

“She was very different and unique. She was an amazing friend,” said Nungaray.

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Nungaray told Fox News Digital that she “will always advocate for her and be her voice and stand up for better border control and immigration laws. Because I know one-million percent Jocelyn’s death should have been preventable.” (Getty Images)

Nungaray said she is very grateful to Trump for both his support and for “keeping his promises” regarding immigration enforcement.

“I support immigration, but I say there’s just a right way and a wrong way to do it,” she explained. “He’s protecting the people, and he’s taking consideration to the people, us the citizens and making sure we’re safe and our kids are safe, women are safe, that we’re all safe in our communities.”

“We’ve still got a long way to go,” she went on. “But I will always advocate for her and be her voice and stand up for better border control and immigration laws. Because I know one-million percent Jocelyn’s death should have been preventable.”

An evenly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a religious school that sought public funding from the state of Oklahoma. 

In a 4-4 vote, the justices upheld the Oklahoma State Supreme Court’s decision that for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma City to receive public funds would be unconstitutional. Justice Amy Coney Barrett had recused herself from the case. 

The court issued a one-sentence ruling upholding the lower court’s decision, saying only: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.”

Oklahoma has argued that providing state funds for a religious charter school violates the First Amendment. 

TRUMP FACES ANOTHER DEPORTATION SETBACK WITH 4TH CIRCUIT APPEALS COURT

The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore’s contract request in June 2023, making them eligible to receive public funds. The school agreed that it would be free and open to all students “as a traditional public school,” and would comply with local, state and federal education laws.

But St. Isidore also indicated that the school “fully embraces the teachings” of the Catholic Church and participates “in the evangelizing mission of the church.”

Its ability to receive state funding was later blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled that using the funds for a religious school was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued to block the approval of the school’s state charter, calling it an “unlawful sponsorship” of a sectarian institution, and “a serious threat to the religious liberty of all four-million Oklahomans.” 

That argument was appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case in October.

School choice advocates rally outside the Supreme Court building. (Fox News Digital )

In more than two hours of wide-ranging oral arguments last month, justices appeared split along ideological lines over whether to allow St. Isidore to become the first religious charter school in the U.S. 

The justices focused on two questions during the oral arguments: First was whether charter schools should be treated as public schools, which are considered extensions of the state and therefore subject to the Establishment Cause and its ban establishing or endorsing a religion; or if the school should be considered a private entity or contractor, which was the argument made by St. Isidore.

The second question was whether Oklahoma’s actions violated the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution, by placing what the school argues is an undue burden on its religious mission.

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

From left: Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Getty Images)

The decision comes as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has, in recent years, ruled in favor of allowing taxpayer funds to be allocated to some religious organizations to provide “non-sectarian services” such as adoption services or food banks.

In this case, the justices debated what limits on curriculum supervision and control would be placed on the religious charter school, if its contract with the state was allowed to move forward.

Justices Kentanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan pressed attorneys for the school on how they would treat students with different religious backgrounds who might opt to attend.

There is no indication of how each justice ultimately voted.