The Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) announced the arrests of Miami residents Alina Del Prado, 60, and Karla Patricia Figueroa, 40, who are accused of deceptively using unsuspecting licensed insurance representatives’ licenses to defraud Florida consumers and allegedly illegally conducting more than $200,000 in insurance transactions while operating Quality Insurance Agency (Quality) in Hialeah, Fla.
Beginning in January 2014, an investigation conducted by DIF, in conjunction with the Department’s Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services (A&A), alleged that Alina Del Prado submitted an insurance agency license application for Quality using a licensed agent’s name and license number unbeknownst to the agent. A&A conducted an inspection of the agency, which discovered that Del Prado, unlicensed at the time, was allegedly using the agent’s name and license number to fraudulently transact insurance business in numerous instances.
The investigation also showed that Del Prado had hired Karla Figueroa and that Figueroa had allegedly illegally sold automobile insurance policies as an unlicensed customer representative. Figueroa, continuing the fraudulent pattern, also utilized an unsuspecting representative’s name and license number to illegally obtain automobile insurance policies.
Investigators located the unsuspecting insurance agent and representative whose information was used and they confirmed that they did not authorize Del Prado, nor Figueroa, to use their identification nor professional license, and that the signatures used on the fraudulently obtained policies were not their own. Records indicated that Del Prado was the owner and in charge of Quality’s day-to-day operations.
Alina Del Prado and Karla Patricia Figueroa were booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Facility with a combined bond in excess of $1 million. Del Prado is still being held and faces over 300 felony charges including money laundering, identity fraud, grand theft, transacting insurance without an insurance license, and scheme to defraud. Figueroa faces charges including identity fraud, transacting without an insurance license, and scheme to defraud charges. This case will be prosecuted by the office of Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
Source: Florida Department of Financial Services
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