i will never understand the greed ....... when is enough...... enough ...... it's an addiction they cannot stop ........greed is just financial stupidity .......take the money and run i say .....but they never do........ they get greedy and greedy .....i have not one gram pf sympathy ....let them get blood farts every single day
Miami real estate mogul sentenced to 14 years in prison for $78M drug conspiracy
Real estate agent Stephen Costa will be going back to prison after being sentenced to about 14 years in prison for spearheading a $78 million prescription drug ring — comprised of medicine meant for HIV and cancer patients, records show.
Costa, 40, was the architect of the scheme that began in early 2013, was shut down in 2019 and involved an operation spanning multiple states and territories, according to court records. He ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
READ MORE: Keeping a secret, Miami broker sells homes and launches firm while hiding criminal past
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles sentenced him last week to 168 months in prison, along with being required to participate in a 500-hour drug and alcohol treatment program. Costa’s conspiracy involved 20 people, who were caught and indicted by authorities between 2019 and 2024.
Costa started his plot by buying two licensed Puerto Rican pharmaceutical wholesale companies and distributors. After he gained control, he would reroute drugs meant for HIV and cancer patients to different states, including Florida and North Carolina, records read.
With his co-conspirators, whom he’d known from business school and other illegal schemes, Costa would teach how to price, market, sell and distribute the drugs.
In total, about $78 million worth of diverted drugs were sold to unsuspecting patients, who believed their medicine was shipped directly from legitimate manufacturers — not purchased on the streets and repackaged under fake labeling.
This isn’t the first time Costa has been involved in a criminal conspiracy and convicted for it. In fact, the pharmaceutical scheme was plotted soon after he was released from prison for one of his previous criminal escapades.
Career criminal
In 2013, then 28 years old and living in New York City, Costa plotted and then led a healthcare scam in which he stole and bought medicine meant for AIDS patients. The drugs averaged about $1,000 a bottle.
He and conspirators paid off Medicaid beneficiaries in Manhattan bodegas and Bronx street corners. The scheme only lasted less than a year and in 2015, Costa was convicted for jeopardizing the health of Americans and serving about three years in prison.
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He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $1.2 million by a Miami federal judge to the U.S. government.
During both criminal healthcare conspiracies, Costa was a licensed real estate agent who, at the time, was gaining traction on social media and in the business world.
Real Estate agent by day?
Costa first received his real estate license in 2003 and held onto it throughout his 2015 conviction — and he continued to hold it as late as 2024.
In 2023, he co-founded Scope Realty, a South Miami-based brokerage firm that promotes rental and residential deals. The Miami Herald’s inquiry into his license led to the state investigating his 2015 conviction.
Under Florida law, a convicted felon is eligible to carry a real estate license. However, any conviction must be reported to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and its Florida Real Estate Commission.
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