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A serial con artist who stole more than $3 million from lenders by posing as a doctor looking to borrow money to buy expensive medical equipment was sentenced to nine years in prison for a series of medical frauds.
Joseph Albert Corey, 57, used dozens of false identities and bogus bank accounts to operate his frauds, and then laundered the proceeds by buying gold coins which he took with him to Mexico after going on the run to avoid sentencing in one con.
“Joseph Albert Corey is a serial fraudster, a man of uncountable identities, a shapeshifter,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. “He does not have the capacity for responsibility or remorse.”
A message left with Corey’s attorney wasn’t immediately returned.
“ ‘What Mr. Corey seems to be disgruntled about is that he was caught — a timeless gripe of the entitled fraudster.‘”
Prosecutors say he ran the doctor scam while he was on the run after pleading guilty in 2019 to stealing $370,000 from an international hotel chain, by depositing fraudulent checks into accounts he’d set up, prosecutors said.
Corey had opened the accounts in the name of fake medical supply companies using the phony identity, “Dennis Dupont.” He then withdrew the money and used it to buy gold coins that he had sent to post office boxes he’d set up in another name.
Prosecutors said while Corey was awaiting sentencing in that case, he discovered that investigators had caught wind of his other scam, in which he pretended to be a doctor looking to borrow money to purchase expensive medical equipment. He then failed to show up for his sentencing hearing and fled to Mexico under yet another identity, prosecutors said.
In the doctor scam, prosecutors said Corey ripped off at least 10 lenders. Corey admitted he stole as much as $3.5 million though the con, but prosecutors said they believed it could have been as much as $13.5 million. Corey also laundered the money by buying gold coins that he had sent to mail boxes he’d opened under another name.
It took investigators over a year to track Corey down, but with the help of the Mexican police, he was arrested in Monterrey in 2021. When he was taken into custody, investigators found dozens of false ID cards with his picture on them, including one that identified him as a special agent for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
In his own sentencing memo, Corey argued that he had been roped into the doctor scam by a co-conspirator with a long history of frauds after losing his job and having to work as a rideshare driver for a time to make ends meet. Corey claimed he only made phone calls posing as a doctor to lenders, but that the co-conspirator, who was not charged in the case, was the mastermind behind the scam.
Corey said he stopped participating in the doctor scam when he pleaded guilty in the bogus check case, but that his accomplice continued using false IDs with Corey’s picture on them to continue the fraud.
Prosecutors dismissed Corey’s claims as self-serving and dishonest.
“Far from taking responsibility and expressing remorse for his crimes, Mr. Corey will downplay the severity of his conduct; petulant about getting caught, he will point his fingers at his co-conspirator,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “What Mr. Corey seems to be disgruntled about is that he was caught — a timeless gripe of the entitled fraudster.”
In addition to his jail term, Corey was ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution.
