Florida authorities have made another arrest as part of “Operation Dirty Money,” an ongoing enforcement initiative to identify those bilking the workers' compensation system.
According to Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, police have arrested Nassar Faraj Hasan on four felony counts stemming from an probe of the 27-year-old's Tampa-based money service business. The proprietor of “Buy One Get One” allegedly failed to appropriately document multiple business transactions as required by Florida statutes.
The Office of Financial Regulation initially identified the deficiencies, then referring the case to Division of Insurance Fraud. Further investigation revealed that Hasan failed to keep required business and identification records in an attempt to hide cashing certain checks, some of which may be tied to previously identified “shell” companies in furtherance of a large-scale workers' compensation premium fraud scheme.
Florida officials are all too familiar with such shady business practices, as successful sting operations continue to unravel a host of entities that enable people to cash in the state's workers' compensation system and the larger insurance industry.
“Operation Dirty Money continues to make great strides to eliminate illegal check-cashing businesses in Florida while ensuring taxpayers are protected from the costly consequences of workers' compensation fraud,” Atwater reports. “I commend our investigators and both the Broward County and Palm Beach County sheriff's offices for their hard work in making this task force such a success.”
In a separate but similar investigation, police arrested 49-year-old Luis Ramon Rodriguez in early September. The owner of “Three Rodriguez” in Orlando also faces charges for violating money service business practice requirements set forth by the state. His business was positively identified as having negotiated checks made payable to identified “shell” companies, the owners of which had been arrested previously by task force detectives.
Hasan was booked at the Hillsborough County Jail on $100,000 bond. If convicted on all charges, he faces as many as 45 years in prison. Rodriguez faces up to 5 years in prison, if convicted on all charges.
The Workers' Compensation Fraud Task Force was jointly created by CFO Atwater's Division of Insurance Fraud and the Broward County Sheriff's Office in August, 2011. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office joined the task force in 2012. Through joint efforts, the task force has been able to successfully shut down more than 40 shell companies and identify more than $500 million in fraudulent transactions associated with these companies.
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