Two licensed public adjusters working in Miami, Fla. have been arrested for submitting bogus contractor agreements.
Jose Manuel Soler and Ariel L. Fernandez, both of Coast to Coast Public Adjusters, have been accused of submitting approximately 75 forged agreements, which resulted in an overpayment by Citizens Insurance of more than $314,000. Citizens is Florida's insurer of last resort, meaning that it provides insurance to homeowners in high-risk areas and others who cannot find coverage in the open, private insurance market in the hurricane-prone state.
Detectives from the Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud said that 29 forged contractor documents also were submitted to the Tower Hill Group, resulting in a loss of approximately $125,000. The forged contractor agreements were submitted in order to obtain an additional 20 percent of the estimated claim for overhead and profit. The fraudulent contractor agreements stemmed from real claims for water-pipe damage.
Both Soler and Fernandez surrendered on the charges, which consisted of 104 counts of insurance fraud, 104 counts of grand theft, and one count of organized scheme to defraud. Bail was expected to be set at $1.05 million.
Following each storm season in 2004 and 2005, Tom Gallagher, Florida's chief financial officer and head of the Department of Financial Services, capped public adjusters fees that could be charged to storm victims and implemented a 14-day period for victims to rescind public adjuster contracts without a penalty.
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