Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Claims Magazine .

A Riverside, Calif. man has pled guilty to a whopping 59 felony counts of grand theft, 59 felony counts of insurance fraud, three felony counts of tax evasion and one felony count of conspiracy. Rene Montes, 42, defrauded insurance companies out of $1.5 million by illegally negotiating, settling, and collecting payments on liens for workers' comp insurance claims.

According to investigators, Montes, who operated as W.C. Surgery Centers and W.C.S.C. & Associates, teamed up with Hector Porrata, Cara Cruz Thompson and George Martinez to carry out their spurious scheme. From August 2003 to January 2006, the group fraudulently solicited funds from AIG Claims Services and Matrix Absence Management Inc. for outstanding medical liens on workers' compensation claims for services provided by medical providers.

Montes issued letters to AIG Insurance Company and Matrix Absence Management Inc., indicating that his two companies had been authorized by the medical providers to negotiate, settle, and collect monies to resolve unpaid liens. This is where the other three foolish fraudsters come in. As AIG workers' comp adjusters, Porrata, Cruz Thompson, and Martinez allegedly made payments of nearly $1.2 million to Montes' W.C. Surgery Centers and W.C.S.C. & Associates.