Latest Fraud Headlines
All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Alabama Court Gives Go Ahead to Workers Comp Suit Against AIG, Coventry
Nov 4 2019 // An Alabama appellate court has cleared the way for a lawsuit that alleges outrageous and fraudulent conduct by American International Group and Coventry against a worker who was injured in an explosion and sought...
California Agent Arrested for Allegedly Stealing $148K, Leaving Clie…
Nov 4 2019 // Insurance agent Stephen Mark Gomez, 64, of Lake View Terrace, Calif., was arraigned last month on eight felony counts of grand theft and embezzlement after allegedly collecting over $148,000 in insurance premium payments...
3 Kentucky Farmers Plead Guilty to Crop Insurance Fraud
Nov 1 2019 // Three Kentucky farmers have pleaded guilty to federal charges related to crop insurance fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Lexington says 34-year-old Bradley Price pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money...
Scammers Swindle Florida City Out of Nearly $750K With Fraudulent Invoice
Nov 1 2019 // Police say scammers posing as a local construction company doing business with a north Florida city got an employee to change information that sent $742,376 to a fraudulent bank account. The Ocala Star-Banner reports a...
Idaho Man Sentenced for Insurance Fraud With Fictitious Golf Club Receipts
Oct 30 2019 // An Idaho man has been nailed for insurance fraud using fictitious golf club receipts. David Gress appeared at the Canyon County District Court this week and was sentenced for insurance fraud. Gress pled guilty in August to...
Two Georgia Suspects Arrested, Charged With Defrauding Lemonade Insurance Company
Oct 30 2019 // Two Georgia suspects have been arrested and charged for allegedly defrauding Lemonade Insurance Company. Special Agents in the Criminal Investigations Division at the Georgia Department of Insurance assisted with the...
Men Charged with Stealing New Tractors Worth $80K from Louisiana Business
Oct 29 2019 // Two men have been charged with stealing two new tractors from a Many, La., business. The estimated value of both tractors is $80,000. Stephan Morton, (38) of Shreveport, La., and Michael Bayonne (41) of Alexandria, La.,...
Iowa Revokes License of Arizona Insurance Agent Over Annuity Fraud Scheme
Oct 28 2019 // An Arizona insurance agent has lost his Iowa insurance license and is barred for reapplying for 10 years after the Iowa Insurance Division found he fleeced elderly Iowa residents. The division said in a news release that...
Five Indicted in Louisiana for Staged Accident Insurance Fraud Scheme
Oct 28 2019 // Five defendants have been indicted in Louisiana for an alleged insurance fraud involving a staged vehicular accident scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says. Damian K. Labeaud and Lucinda Thomas of New Orleans, and...
California Agent Arrested for Allegedly Stealing $148K, Leaving Client Uninsured
Oct 28 2019 // Insurance agent Stephen Mark Gomez, 64, of Lake View Terrace, Calif., was arraigned last week on eight felony counts of grand theft and embezzlement after allegedly collecting over $148,000 in insurance premium payments...
Connecticut Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing $370K from Former Employer
Oct 28 2019 // A Connecticut woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling about $370,000 from her former employer. Federal prosecutors say 36-year-old Lydia Cabrera, of Southington, pleaded guilty to bank fraud. Authorities say Cabrera was a...
Philadelphia Businessman Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for $34M Fraud
Oct 28 2019 // A Philadelphia businessman who amplified the size of his legal benefits firm to gain more than $30 million in loans has been sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison. Gary Alan Frank was sentenced in Philadelphia where the...
Reinsurance Fraud Triggers Stock Plunge in Lehman-Founded Hungarian Insurer
Oct 25 2019 // Hungarian insurer Cig Pannonia Nyrt., which lists Lehman Brothers as one of its founders, lost as much as a quarter of its value in two days after Italian reinsurance contracts at one of its units turned out to be...
Bookkeeper for New Jersey Company Admits Stealing $1.7M in Check Fraud Scheme
Oct 24 2019 // A bookkeeper for a northern New Jersey company has admitted stealing $1.7 million from the firm by writing herself fraudulent company checks. Tammy Martinez pleaded guilty Tuesday to bank fraud. The 46-year-old South Amboy...
Sheriff Says Midwest Crop Thefts Are a ‘Major League Operation’
Oct 24 2019 // A “well-organized machine” of thieves appears to be behind the theft of tons of apples and pumpkins from orchards and farms in Michigan and Indiana, according to authorities. An estimated 7,000 pounds (3,175...
Kansas Farmer Pleads Guilty to Nearly $500K in Crop Insurance Fraud
Oct 23 2019 // Federal officials say a Kansas farmer has pleaded guilty to federal charges of crop insurance fraud and bankruptcy fraud. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said Kevin W. Struss, 63, Wakeeney, Kan., pleaded guilty to one...
Texas Man Convicted of $1.7M Arson, Insurance Fraud Scheme
Oct 23 2019 // A southeast Texas man has been found guilty charges related to an arson and insurance fraud scheme in the Eastern District of Texas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. According to U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown, a...
California Insurance Agent Arrested for Identity Theft And Forgery
Oct 22 2019 // Insurance agent Richard Valdriz, 52, has been charged with thirteen felony counts including identity theft, forgery, and grand theft after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance reportedly found that he...
California Roofer Arrested For Workers’ Comp Fraud, $50K Loss to Insurer
Oct 21 2019 // Herbert Allen Kelly III, 65, of Rancho Murieta, Calif., owner of Kelly Roofing Co., has been arrested on six felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud after allegedly underreporting his business’ payroll and...
Financial, Legal Advisors Scamming Elderly Has Become Big Business
Oct 21 2019 // Terry Ann McIntosh’s financial nightmare began four years ago, soon after she hired a caregiver through a family services website. McIntosh, then 75 and in a wheelchair, had assumed that the young woman who...
