Three Miami people, two them licensed insurance agents, have been charged with operating an unauthorized insurance agent licensing school and taking license examinations in applicants’ place. At least five agents’ licenses have been suspended because of the investigation.
Rainer Miguel Salas and his son, Rainer Alexander Salas, a licensed agent, and a receptionist, Karla Lit Peralta Ceballos, also a licensed agent, accepted payments from applicants at their test-prep office and were able to skirt testing security protocols, Florida’s CFO said Thursday.
“It’s reprehensible that this father and son duo facilitated cheating on the state insurance exam just to make a quick buck,” CFO Jimmy Patronis said in a statement. “Such fraudulent behavior undermines the trust and integrity expected of our state’s licensed insurance agents.”
WPLG TV news in Miami reported that five other agents, who allegedly paid the school to take their license exams, have had their licenses suspended. The names of those individuals were not available Friday morning. More licenses may be affected.
The school is situated near the Miami International Airport and is known as D&R Insurance Group, an agency and prep center. Irregularities were discovered by Pearson VUE, the vendor for the state that administers online testing, the news outlet reported. The company found that some 820 license exams had been “subverted” by an unauthorized computer, according to the arrest reports.
Applicants would pay as much as $2,000 to have the unauthorized academy take the exams for them, authorities said. Cooperating witnesses said that applicants would be instructed at the testing center to sit in an isolated room, using a laptop that was already logged into the alleged schemers’ Pearson account and was controlled by another computer.
When a proctor would check online, the applicants were supposed to move the laptop around so the proctor could see, through the laptop’s camera, if anyone else was in the room, the arrest reports indicate, WPLG reported.
The Florida Department of Financial Services’ license page shows that the younger Salas, of Miami Lakes, has been licensed since 2020 as a general lines/property and casualty agent and as a life insurance agent. He is currently appointed with three life insurance companies.
Peralta Ceballos, of Miami Gardens, obtained a health insurance agent license in May and is appointed with four health insurers.
The DFS said that the elder Salas had previously been prohibited from insurance business in Florida. Further information was not available.
The three were booked into jail in Miami on Thursday, June 27, charged with conspiracy to commit violations of representing, aiding unauthorized insurers; a scheme to defraud; and violation of the Florida Communication Fraud Act. If convicted, each could face up to 15 years in prison, DFS said. The three could not be reached for comment Friday, nor could a licensed agent affiliated with D&R Insurance Group.
The Miami Dade State Attorney’s Office participated in the investigation and will lead the prosecution.
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