Rhode Islander Indicted by Mass.

A Rhode Island man has been indicted on charges he allegedly worked as a used car broker while claiming to be injured and collecting $160,000 in total disability benefits, according to Mass. Attorney General Tom Reilly. Thomas Fratantuono Sr., of Foster, R.I., was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on one count each of workers’ compensation insurance fraud and insurance fraud, and two counts of larceny over $250. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 14 in Suffolk Superior Court.

Fratantuono, who was a self-employed auto broker, suffered head injuries in a June 1999 automobile accident and as a result reported that he suffered from cognitive difficulties, hearing loss, and balance problems which prevented him from working after November 2000. From November 2000 through August 2003, Fratantuono allegedly collected $699 per week in total disability workers’ comp benefits, those reserved for someone incapable of working in any capacity for an employer, from Granite State Insurance, a unit of American International Group (AIG). In addition, Fratantuono allegedly collected $2,000 per month in total disability benefits under a private disability insurance policy he had with Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.

The investigation found that in 2001 and 2002, Fratantuono allegedly worked as a used car broker for a Fitchburg used car dealer while collecting the total disability payments from Granite State Insurance and Penn Mutual Life Insurance. By concealing his post-injury employment, Fratantuono allegedly fraudulently collected more than $85,000 from Granite State Insurance and $76,000 from Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General John Crimmins of AG Reilly’s Insurance and Unemployment Fraud Division, which also handled the investigation with assistance from AIG and the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Mass.

Topics Fraud Massachusetts