ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News Investigates has been reporting for years on problems with an Atlanta-based health care sharing ministry and the company that operated it.

Now, a judge in California just ordered a Georgia company to pay $34 million in penalties.

Aliera and the health care sharing ministry tied to it, Trinity, don’t have the money to pay. They are now bankrupt.

The California Attorney General’s Office confirmed to Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray that they also have a trial date set in a case against the Georgia family behind Aliera, who allegedly walked off with millions of dollars.

Channel 2 Action News first met Will Pollock in 2019, when Aliera refused to pay the medical bills for the birth of his son.

“Now I see how many other families, other people were harmed,” Pollock said. “It’s no less enraging today than it was seven years ago.”

Trinity was the health care sharing ministry. Aliera was the medical plan administrator. Neither is insurance.

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The company’s bankruptcy liquidator now alleges Aliera siphoned off as much as “84% of the members’ payments for its own use and to funnel to its insiders.”

Channel 2 Action News Investigates has told story after story of families who had their medical claims rejected by Aliera and Trinity.

Aliera was essentially the family business of CEO Shelley Steele.

We’ve learned the California Attorney General is now going after Steele, her husband, and son, individually, alleging they are “personally liable for violations of law committed by Aliera.”

Bankruptcy filings allege Steele’s family pocketed big money.

$8.3 million in unpaid loansMore than $12 million to alleged sham companiesMillions more for personal real estate and to a fake charity

Altogether, more than $26 million was allegedly directed to Steele and her family.

“Now we are getting a bigger picture of how profound the grifting was with this company. And it’s hard to find the words to describe how depraved the whole thing is,” Pollack said.

Steele’s family entered into a confidential settlement agreement in bankruptcy court, so we don’t know how much of their millions they paid back to the liquidators.

While Aliera and Trintiy are gone, other health care sharing ministries still operate in Georgia, often offering lower costs than traditional health insurance.

But Georgia Watch Executive Director Liz Coyle said they also come without the protections of the Affordable Care Act or Georgia’s insurance commissioner.

“Literally, the claims don’t have to be paid. And there’s just no oversight. So it’s not insurance,” Coyle said.

The attorney for Steele told Gray that the allegations of siphoning of more than $26 million from customers are “extreme.”

But said Steele and her family have paid what they were required by the confidential settlement. California’s attorney general, though, is now separately seeking potential penalties from Steele.

Gray also asked Georgia’s Attorney General’s Office about this story, which said there is no separate, active investigation here in Georgia.

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