Two lawyers and one doctor pleaded guilty in connection with a staged auto insurance fraud ring involving more than 55 victims in Arizona and California. The scheme netted more than $2.5 million in claim settlements between 1993 and 2000, according to investigators from the California Department of Insurance's Los Angeles Urban Auto Fraud Task Force. Operation Rent & Wreck resulted in the arrests of 18 people in all.

According to investigators, the fraud ring consisted of licensed medical doctors, chiropractors, attorneys, office employees, and others. Fraudulent documents were created and provided by doctors and chiropractors employed by law offices managed by two non-attorney brothers, Ahmed Khan and Munir Sharif, who also managed a medical clinic. In general, a driver from Phoenix rented vehicles from local airports to stage collisions in the San Fernando Valley. Although the participants in the staged collisions never received medical treatment, medical reports and bills were submitted to insurance companies by the law office of Curtis M. Shaw and Keith D. Washington.

Shaw, who resigned from the bar when he was charged in 2003, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, three counts of filing false insurance claims, and one count of failing to file state tax returns. Although Washington pleaded guilty to one count of false or fraudulent claims against insurers — solicitation, acceptance, or referral of business, he still practices law.