Fraud of the Month: Socialite steals $20 million after mansion burns

Claire Risoldi lived larger than life — and her bank account.

She was a prominent socialite and fundraiser for county Republican politicos at her mansion outside of Philadelphia. Risoldi’s prolific spending impelled her to steal $20 million of insurance money after a fire swept through her family’s 5,600-foot mansion. She loaded up on dodgy claims for jewelry, a large ceiling mural, draperies and other bling.

Risoldi finally landed hard. Investigators found a long trail of bloated claims that convinced a jury she needs serious jail time.

Accused firefighters of stealing jewelry

Fittingly, the 10-acre family estate was called Clairemont. She needed the insurance money to keep her lavish party life going.

Mysterious fires broke out at Clairemont multiple times. Risoldi was never charged with arson, though she piled up sooty fire claims afterward.

Her biggest insurance gambit involved $10 million of supposedly stolen jewelry after the third and final fire in October 2013. Risoldi inflated the policy from $100,000 on two pieces of jewelry to more than $10 million for 55 pieces —  just three months before that fire. She forged jewelry appraisal documents, repeatedly misspelling the word “jewelry.”

Volunteer firefighters put their lives on the line for her home. Yet Risoldi accused them of stealing the jewelry while they worked to tamp down the flames inside.

Then an insurance adjuster found a canvas jewelry bag hidden behind a grandfather clock in the burned dining room, and another bag in a bathtub days after the fire. The empty jewelry boxes in the bags had no soot or signs of water damage. Any firefighter stealing the jewelry would’ve smudged the boxes with dirty gloves from the smokey interior.

Hidden at her rental home after the fire were 20 Rolex watches she’d claimed were stolen.

Inflated claims for ceiling mural

An artist had painted lavish ceiling murals featuring Risoldi family members for $50,000. Risoldi convinced him to inflate the cost to $950,000 with forged receipts.

She also handed the insurer 70 forged receipts for replacing wrecked draperies. The firm was called Summerdale Mills, though Risoldi misspelled the name as “Summerdal” on many receipts.

And Risoldi claimed more than $13,000 a month for a rental home after the fire swept through Clairemont. In truth, the rental expenses were just $4,000 a month.

Insurance money tumbled into Risoldi bank accounts. Family members spent the loot on more homes, six Ferraris, two Rolls Royces, a Shelby Cobra and four other vehicles, all worth $2.8 million.

Threatens insurer adjuster

Risoldi mounted a campaign of intimidation. After blaming the volunteer firefighters, she threatened to sue investigators searching her rental home for evidence. Risoldi also publicly called her insurer, AIG, “cruel” for canceling her policy. She even falsely blamed the insurer for the fire. AIG should’ve better policed the electrician she’d hired to make repairs after a prior fire, she said.

Risoldi also launched a tirade at AIG’s adjuster James O’Keefe in a parking lot. She called him a “rat bastard” and “lying sack of …” She had a mole in the Attorney General’s office, she claimed. She knew O’Keefe would get fired and she would sue him personally, Risoldi shouted.

“Snitches get stitches,” she had her lawyer warn O’Keefe.

Risoldi’s bluster went nowhere. She could serve to 60 years in jail when sentenced, thanks to dogged investigators and prosecution by the state Attorney General’s office. Risoldi’s husband committed suicide. Her son Carl received four years of probation.

Investigators discovered a book on Risoldi’s desk in her rental home after the fire: “Insult to Injury: Insurance fraud and the Big Business of Bad Faith.”

“It speaks for itself,” state prosecutor Linda Montag told the jury.

Dennis Jay is the executive director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Contact him at dennisjay@insurancefraud.org.

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