Arizona Man Gets Jail Time for Selling Fake Insurance Policies to Businesses

An Arizona man has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for selling fake insurance policies to commercial environmental businesses.

Prosecutors say Brian McFarland must also pay full restitution of more than $450,000 to the 87 defrauded businesses.

The Arizona Department of Insurance’s fraud unit arrested McFarland for theft, fraud schemes and identity theft in 2016.

McFarland forged his name onto an Arizona insurance producer’s license of another agent with the same last name.

He used the stolen identity and license to sell insurance under the name Legends Environmental Insurance Services.

McFarland set up fraudulent bank accounts under Legends’ name without the agency’s knowledge and diverted more than $450,000 in premium payments into his own bank account.

He pleaded guilty to theft and fraudulent schemes and artifices last December.