Health Matching Account Lawsuit: DOJ Case and $50M Class Action

Two lawsuits are pending against Houston-based Health Matching Account Services. In October 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil complaint alleging the company ran a Ponzi scheme, and a federal judge froze its assets and shut down its operations. A private class action filed a year earlier seeks $50 million for breach of contract. If you contributed to an HMA or Pet Health Matching Account plan, the Health Matching Account lawsuit activity now runs on two tracks, and the FBI is collecting information from affected members.

What HMA Sold

Health Matching Account Services, founded in 2014, marketed a product it called a Health Matching Account. For every dollar a member contributed through monthly payments, HMA promised additional “matching” funds to cover qualifying medical expenses.¹ The FBI says HMA told members their contributed funds would roughly double if left in the account for 35 months without being spent on eligible expenses, and that the plans would cover items typical insurance did not, including cosmetic procedures.² A companion product, the Pet Health Matching Account, applied the same idea to veterinary bills.³

These were not federally regulated Health Savings Accounts. HSAs are governed by the IRS and belong entirely to the account holder. HMA products operated under company-defined terms with no equivalent federal framework. By 2022, owner Elliott Gorog told brokers on a Zoom call that HMA had roughly 52,000 active customers.⁴

The DOJ’s Ponzi Scheme Case

On October 17, 2025, the Department of Justice filed a civil complaint under the Anti-Fraud Injunction statute (18 U.S.C. § 1345) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The case, United States of America v. Health Matching Account Services, Inc., Pet Health Matching Services, Inc., Regina Gorog, and Elliott Gorog (Case No. 4:25-cv-00814-RK), names the two companies and the mother-and-son owners.³

The government alleges the matching funds HMA advertised were never actually available, and that the company paid medical claims for some members using contributions from others rather than from real reserves or investment returns. Prosecutors allege the defendants used false marketing and misleading account balances to keep existing members paying and to attract new ones.³

The $33 Million Gap

The central figure in the government’s case: as of October 2023, more than 8,000 HMA customers held account balances totaling roughly $33 million, while the company had about $130,000 in its bank accounts.⁵ For every dollar members believed they had, HMA held less than half a cent.

According to the complaint, HMA did not maintain segregated individual accounts as marketed. Member contributions went into general operating accounts controlled by the Gorogs, and the balances displayed to members were largely accounting entries not backed by real funds. Prosecutors also allege the Gorogs used member contributions for personal expenses and unrelated business costs.⁵

The Company’s Response

HMA and the Gorogs deny running a Ponzi scheme. Brian Hobson, an attorney for Regina Gorog, said the government’s picture of available funds was incomplete and that “HMAS is backed by millions of dollars that are not in their bank accounts.” The company has said it paid more than $20 million in medical claims over the four years before the shutdown, including nearly $2 million in the three months before the government intervened.⁵ The defendants are presumed innocent.

Shutdown and Asset Freeze

On October 22, 2025, Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark entered a temporary restraining order that effectively closed HMA’s operations. The order prohibited the defendants from:

Soliciting or enrolling new members in HMA or PHMA.
Operating the company’s websites; GoDaddy and Verisign were ordered to lock healthmatchingaccounts.com and healthmatching.com.
Accessing accounts at PlainsCapital and Stripe, or processing payments and checks from existing members.
Dissipating, transferring, or concealing assets tied to the programs.

The defendants were also required to submit a sworn statement identifying all accounts, assets, and safe deposit boxes, and were barred from destroying business or financial records.⁶

On January 21, 2026, the court converted the temporary order into a preliminary injunction, which stays in place until final judgment or further court order.³ The civil docket is under an administrative stay until January 13, 2027.⁷ As of mid-2026, no receiver has been appointed, no distribution fund exists for members, HMA’s bank accounts remain frozen, and its websites remain offline.

The $50 Million Class Action

Nearly a year before the DOJ filed, five plaintiffs sued HMA in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The case, Woodbright et al v. Health Matching Account Services, Inc. (Case No. 4:24-cv-04611), was filed on November 22, 2024, and assigned to Judge Keith P. Ellison.⁸⁹

The complaint alleges breach of contract and deceptive business practices. According to the plaintiffs, HMA made “radical and unforeseeable changes” beginning in the fall of 2022. The company eliminated the debit card system members had used to pay providers directly and replaced it with a reimbursement process that required members to submit claims for approval and pushed providers into negotiating payments with HMA. If a member fell behind on required monthly fees, HMA allegedly took ownership of the member’s entire account balance.⁴

The plaintiffs describe the arrangement as a “deceptive and unconscionable bait and switch” and say HMA took “tens of millions of dollars” from customers. They seek $50 million on behalf of a proposed class of more than 100 members who held active contracts as of 2022.⁹ No settlement has been announced.

Criminal Investigation Status

The DOJ’s action is a civil lawsuit, but the case sits under the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Victim Notification Program, and the department has described an “ongoing investigation” into the defendants.³ The investigation reportedly concerns potential wire fraud and conspiracy.⁷ As of mid-2026, no criminal charges have been filed against the Gorogs.

What Affected Members Should Do

The FBI has set up an online questionnaire for anyone who contributed to an HMA or PHMA plan. The form documents each member’s experience and any lost funds, and the DOJ continues to direct potential victims to it.²³ Pet Health Matching Account members are included in the same process and are treated as victims of the same alleged scheme.

Filing with the FBI does not join you to the class action. That is a separate case in a different court, and any class certification, notice, or settlement in Woodbright will run through the Southern District of Texas. Keep copies of your enrollment paperwork, account statements, bank records showing contributions withdrawn, any denied claims, and correspondence with HMA. If HMA continued withdrawing monthly fees after your account went unreachable, your bank’s dispute process is a separate remedy from either lawsuit.

1
RocketReach. Health Matching Account Services Profile
2
FBI. HMA/PHMA Victim Questionnaire
3
Department of Justice. United States v. Health Matching Account Services, Inc.
4
Houston Public Media. Class Action Lawsuit Claims Houston-Based HMA Services Took Millions From Customers, Broke Contract
5
KHOU. Federal Court Filings: Houston Health Savings Company Ponzi Scheme
6
Midpage. United States v. Health Matching Account Services, Inc.
7
CourtListener. United States v. Health Matching Account Services, Inc.
8
Law360. Woodbright et al v. Health Matching Account Services, Inc.
9
KHOU. HMAS Class Action Complaint