A former Florida insurance agent has been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for stealing more than $100,000 from two elderly clients, according to a statement from the state’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.
The Florida Department of Financial Services said that a scheme, concocted by Vinodh Raghubir, was discovered in late 2015 when employees with one of the client’s financial institutions, Fairwinds Credit Union, noticed that their client had written a large check to pay a life insurance premium.
However, that check was written to a contracted insurance agent instead of directly to the insurance company, which is standard procedure. Concerned, the credit union staff immediately reported their suspicions to AmeriLife Group, the company that managed the insurance agent, according to DFS
AmeriLife Group asked the DFS Insurance Fraud division to launch an investigation. Their investigation revealed that Raghubir gained the trust of two clients, both over the age of 70, and convinced them to purchase life insurance policies and oil annuities. He prepared the paperwork and collected premium payments, but Raghubir never purchased the products. Instead, he took their money and deposited it into his personal account. In total, he collected $123,898.
“As a former banker myself, I applaud the keen awareness and good judgement exercised by the Fairwinds Credit Union employees who flagged this transaction,” said CFO Atwater. “Floridians are the eyes and ears of their community, and I am proud that savvy professionals identified this crime so we were able to stop his fraud. Stealing from the elderly will absolutely not be tolerated.”
The Orange County State Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. In addition to his four-year sentence, he’s ordered to pay full restitution to his two victims. Following his incarceration, he will serve a 20-year probationary period, during which he will be restricted from working in a sales position or financial field, with the exception of retail, and is forbidden from having unsupervised contact with anyone over the age of 65.
In addition, his insurance agent license was revoked by the Department and he has been permanent barred from working in the insurance industry.
Source: Florida Department of Financial Services
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