$2.5M in Underreported Payroll by California Business Owners

Karamjit Nijjar, 57, his wife Rajinder Kaur Nijjar, 55, and their daughter Mandip Nijjar, 31, were arraigned today on four felony counts each for their involvement in a workers’ compensation insurance fraud scheme after allegedly underreporting over $2.5 million in employee payroll to illegally reduce insurance premiums.

The investigation, led by the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, began after the California Department of Insurance received a tip that an employee of a Fresno area trucking business owned by Karamjit Nijjar was denied workers’ comp benefits. Throughout the course of the investigation, investigators with the Central Valley Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force identified an additional business related to Nijjar, Renteria Trucking.

Business records show Karamjit and Rajinder Nijjar own and operate Renteria Trucking. Their daughter, Mandip Nijjar, is an employee.

The task force investigation into Renteria Trucking reportedly revealed the company reported roughly $2.475 million in employee payroll during their routine payroll audit. However, a forensic audit reportedly revealed Renteria Trucking actually had over $5 million in employee payroll for the same time period.

The amount of unreported payroll identified totaled $2,577,035. The misrepresentations made by the Nijjars resulted in the reduction of workers’ comp insurance premiums paid, which resulted in $352,913 in premium owed to the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

The Central Valley Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force is an inter-agency anti-fraud partnership.

Karamjit Nijjar, his wife Rajinder Kaur Nijjar, and Mandip Nijjar pleaded not guilty to the charges and are expected back in court on Nov. 15. The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.

Topics California