NU Online News Service, Oct. 21, 3:49 p.m. EDT
Farmers Insurance has filed a lawsuit against a three-time felon who passed himself off as an insurance adjuster, and two attorneys, alleging the trio operated an insurance scam to file inflated or fake insurance claims from California wildfires as far back as 2003.
In all, Farmers said it received 270 false claims totaling about $7 million from wildfires in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
According to the lawsuit and an introductory case brief from prosecutors in Ventura County, Calif., Glenn Sims allegedly ran an "entirely illegal and fraudulent business" where he would recruit homeowners to bring insurance claims following natural disasters and induced attorneys to work with him, concealing his criminal past.
Prosecutors said Mr. Sims was a "catastrophe chaser" and his business was "as akin to and as illegal as ambulance chasing." Mr. Sims has been up to this alleged scam since the early 1990s. He faces fraud charges for a similar scam he ran after the Northridge earthquake in 1994, according to court documents, and allegedly moved to Louisiana in 2005 to drum up business after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In its lawsuit, Farmers claims Mr. Sims and attorney Neil Anapol had a deal that Mr. Sims would obtain clients for Mr. Anapol to file claims to Farmers about the wildfires. Estimates of damage were either inflated or an outright sham, Farmers alleged.
Mr. Anapol was introduced to Mr. Sims by attorney Robert Amidon, who was defending Mr. Sims against prosecution in the Northridge insurance fraud case. Mr. Amidon is also named in the lawsuit.
Farmers said some homeowners participated in the scam, according to the lawsuit.
Prosecutors said Mr. Sims has "consulted" on more than 1,000 insurance claims since starting his illegal business and concealed his criminal past, which would have prevented him from working in insurance.
Mr. Anapol told prosecutors he would never have worked with Mr. Sims if he knew his background, according to the case brief.
Mr. Sims also employed his wife as a "consultant" and his brother as a damage estimator. Both are felons, according to the prosecutors.
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