A Massachusetts man who owns an asbestos abatement company has been indicted for allegedly failing to accurately report the nature of his company’s work to avoid paying thousands of dollars in insurance premiums.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced on June 18 that Allen Young of Marlborough, Massachusetts, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of workers’ compensation fraud (six counts) and larceny over $250 (six counts). He will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on July 21.
The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts (IFB) referred this case to the Massachusetts attorney general’s office after an investigation into allegations that the company was committing insurance fraud.
According to authorities, Young is the sole owner and officer of Atlantic Bay Contracting Inc., an asbestos abatement company located in Allston, Massachusetts.
Authorities allege that between 2007 and 2014, Young falsely reported that the company’s operations were limited to asbestos removal from pipes and boilers only, when in reality, the majority of the work was on other or additional materials.
Based on the reporting, Young was granted lower premium rates on his company policies. As a result of this alleged scheme, he put his insurance companies and his workers at risk to cover injuries that could have occurred because of the more dangerous asbestos work, authorities said. Through this scheme, he allegedly avoided paying more than $35,000 in insurance premiums.
These charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“We allege that this defendant jeopardized the safety of his employees by intentionally making false representations about his company’s work to avoid paying proper premiums,” Healey said. “This kind of fraud also harms law-abiding Massachusetts business owners who pay appropriate premiums to cover the risks of their business and protect their employees.”
The Workers’ Compensation Ratings and Inspection Bureau in Massachusetts (WCRIB) establishes different categories of policy cost depending on the risk of injury associated with different types of jobs, and insurers apply those categories to a company’s payroll to calculate workers’ comp insurance premiums.
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