Latest Fraud Headlines

All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Kentucky Woman Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud

Dec 12 2007 // Kentucky Insurance officials charged a Shelbyville woman with insurance fraud as a result of collecting more than $3,000 in workers’ compensation benefits. Tanya Garitty, 38, told her employer she was unable to work...

Ark. Woman Settles with Insurer in Agent Theft Case

Dec 12 2007 // A settlement in the amount of $435,298.25 has been reached between Reba Irons of Fort Smith, Ark., and Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America in a case involving John Phillip Middleton, an insurance agent who sold...

N.H. Man Sentenced for Workers’ Compensation Theft

Dec 11 2007 // A 52-year-old New Hampshire man has pleaded guilty to theft in a workers’ compensation case. Attorney General Kelly Ayotte says Philip Rice of Derry was sentenced to serve six months in jail with the sentence...

Liberty Mutual Agency Markets’ Parker Named Top Fraud Investigator

Dec 11 2007 // Liberty Mutual Agency Markets recently announced that senior special investigator Barbara Parker was honored by the National Society of Professional Insurance Investigators (NSPII) with the 2007 F. Lee Brininger Award,...

Former La. State Agency Employee Pleads Guilty to Insurance Fraud

Dec 11 2007 // A former assistant manager of the New Iberia field office of the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles pled guilty to allegations of federal disaster relief fraud, according to the Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud...

California State Fund Receives $153,000 in Fraud Case

Dec 10 2007 // A San Diego businessman was ordered to pay $153,779 in restitution to California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund as part of his conviction on workers’ compensation fraud. Marco Rangel pleaded guilty to one...

Mass. Police Officer Indicted for Insurance Fraud

Dec 7 2007 // A grand jury has indicted a Springfield, Mass. police officer in connection with insurance fraud and larceny. Prosecutors say Anthony Trabal was charged with motor vehicle fraud and two counts of attempted larceny for...

Three Accused of Criminal Activity in La. While Acting as Bail Bond Agents

Dec 6 2007 // Louisiana Department of Insurance Fraud Investigators and Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Deputies charged three Jefferson Parish men with aggravated burglary, aggravated false imprisonment, impersonating a police...

La. Man Convicted of Insurance Fraud Related to Staged Auto Crashes

Dec 5 2007 // A Ville Platte, La., man recently was convicted on charges of insurance fraud and theft related to alleged staged traffic accidents. On Nov. 29, 2007, a six person jury in the 15th Judicial District Court of Lafayette...

Insurance Related Fraud Results in Arrest and Arraignment for 2 in W. Va.

Dec 4 2007 // West Virginia Insurance Commission officials arrested two Logan County women last week for alleged computer fraud and forgery. Lisa K. Hall, 26, of Man, and Cynthia B. Hall, age unknown, of Mitchell Heights, were charged...

Former Texas Assistant AG to Fight Fraud in Private Law Firm

Dec 4 2007 // Patrick O’Connell, former chief of the Texas Attorney General’s Civil Medicaid Fraud Section, has joined Dallas-based Baron & Budd, P.C., as special counsel in the firm’s newly established Austin...

New Mexico Woman Sentenced for Fraud

Dec 4 2007 // 50-year-old Valerie Potter, also known as Valerie Kovach of Rio Rancho, N.M., has been sentenced by Albuquerque District Judge Kenneth Martinez to five years probation on Medicaid fraud and insurance fraud charges. The...

S.D. Man Sent to Prison for 20 Years for Insurance Fraud

Dec 3 2007 // A former Sioux Falls insurance agent convicted of embezzling money from two clients in nursing homes has been sent to prison for 20 years. Paul Wentzlaff, 46, pleaded guilty in September to embezzlement and insurance fraud...

Fraud Investigators Brace for Arsons from Subprime Mortgage Crisis

Dec 3 2007 // Insurance fraud investigators are girding for an expected rash of arsons by cash-strapped homeowners trying to avoid foreclosures and ballooning monthly payments as the subprime mortgage crisis deepens. “Home arsons...

British Bankers Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud in Enron Case

Nov 30 2007 // Three British bankers who were set to go to trial in Houston, Texas, for their roles in a fraudulent scheme with former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow changed their pleas to guilty. David Bermingham, Giles...

3 Arrested in W. Va. on Insurance Fraud Charges

Nov 30 2007 // West Virginia Insurance officials arrested three individuals in Putnam County for alleged insurance fraud. The Insurance Commissioner’s Fraud Unit arrested Diana K. Phillips, 52, of Hurricane, Charles Keith Phillips,...

Mapquest Printout Leads to N.Y. Insurance Fraud Sentencing

Nov 28 2007 // A 36-year-old Rochester, N.Y. man, whose Mapquest directions led police to his home, was sentenced to five years probation in Monroe County Court on Nov. 26 for trying to fraudulently obtain a $10,282 insurance...

Ky. Grand Jury Indicts Insurance Agent on Fraud Charges

Nov 27 2007 // A former Kentucky insurance agent has been indicted on fraud charges after allegedly forging signatures on 114 disability insurance applications. According to court documents, Ray W. Kennedy, 46, of Owensboro, Ky.,...

Texas October Enforcement Actions Total Nearly $650K

Nov 26 2007 // The Texas Department of Insurance announced enforcement actions taken by Commissioner Mike Geeslin that became final during October. The actions include a license revocation, a license denials and fines and restitution...

Stolen Autos’ Good/Bad News

Nov 18 2007 // A recent report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) said auto theft statistics from 2006 indicate vehicle theft declined for the third year in a row. According to the NICB, 1.19 million motor vehicles were...