4 Miami Agents Charged With Getting Commissions on False Life Insurance Policies

Four Miami insurance agents have been charged with submitting false life insurance applications and collecting commissions from John Hancock Life Insurance Co., state officials said Monday.

Alexander Faneites, Nicolas Giraldo Gutierrez, Yuriatsi Carrasco and Yanet Hernandez Suarez gained about $38,000 in commissions after allegedly submitting falsified information, from late 2020 to early 2022, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a bulletin issued with Florida’ chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis.

“These four former licensed insurance agents, now charged with felonies, appeared to believe that their inside insurance position made them immune to prosecution. They were wrong,” Fernandez Rundle said.

Patronis said his office had received several referrals from John Hancock about the allegedly fraudulent activity. The insurance agents reportedly used the personal information of unsuspecting people on policy applications. Those consumers were later contacted, interviewed, and they all indicated that they had never applied for life insurance policies taken out in their name, authorities said.

Financial records showed that commissions paid by John Hancock Insurance were deposited in the agents’ personal bank accounts, Patronis’ office said.

The Department of Financial Services’ agent license web page shows license information only for Faneites and Carrasco. Faneites holds life/annuity and health insurance agent licenses, issued in 2017, with no current qualifying appointments. The page lists 17 inactive appointments since 2017.

Carrasco holds life and health licenses, issued in 2020, with 12 active appointments.

Carrasco and Faneites could not be reached for comment Monday by Insurance Journal.

If convicted on all of the fraud and theft charges, the agents could face as much as 15 years in prison, officials said.

Topics Agencies