This story is reprinted with permission from FC&&S Legal, the industry's only comprehensive digital resource designed for insurance coverage law professionals. Visit the website to subscribe.
Jean Mythro Davilmar, of Brooklyn, New York, has been sentenced to 4 2/3 to 14 years in state prison following his conviction for his participation in what prosecutors characterized as “a massive scheme” to fraudulently obtain commercial car insurance policies and New York State vehicle registrations.
Related: Miami insurance agent charged with creating fake insurance policies
|Registered over 100 cars with fake companies
Over an eight-year period, prosecutors said, Davilmar and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained policies with coverage limits totaling over $1 million by registering over 100 cars with fake companies, including delivery services, prompting investigators to dub the case “Operation Decoy Delivery.”
Davilmar and his co-conspirators filed forged and falsified documents with insurance carriers, the Kings County Supreme Court Clerk's Office, and the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”), the government said.
|Trial included 26 witnesses
On December 7, 2017, after a trial that included the testimony of 26 witnesses and the admission of hundreds of documents, Judge Danny Chun found Davilmar guilty of:
- 2 counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a Class C felony);
- 17 counts of Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree (a Class D felony);
- 4 counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree (a Class E felony);
- 5 counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree (a Class D felony); and
- 1 count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree (a Class E felony).
The evidence at trial showed that between May 2006 and June 2014, Davilmar engaged in a complex scheme to obtain commercial auto insurance in the names of fictitious business partnerships by submitting falsified documents and making false statements to multiple governmental agencies and insurance carriers.
Davilmar, who testified at trial, admitted to forming fake companies in order to obtain insurance policies for multiple vehicles. The evidence at trial showed that Davilmar created over a dozen fictitious business partnerships, including Florist Locomotion, Landscaping Express, Cleaners Express, Mybeda Express, Bedamy Express, and Damybe Express.
|Co-conspirators obtained 20+ commercial auto policies
In total, according to the government, Davilmar and his co-conspirators obtained over 20 commercial insurance policies for over 100 vehicles, with coverage limits of up to $50,000 per accident for each vehicle.
On cross-examination, Davilmar admitted to repeatedly using the alias “Jean Claude Marcelin” on documents filed with the DMV, the Kings County Clerk's Office, and multiple auto insurance carriers.
Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., is the director of FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the Insurance Coverage Law Report, and the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc. Email him at [email protected].
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Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].
