Bay Area man pleads guilty to $250K insurance fraud

A Bay Area man was federally indicted on six federal charges related to his complex unemployment insurance fraud scheme. He pleaded guilty to one federal charge of wire fraud.

According to a statement from the California Department of Insurance, Kenneth X. Huang is now facing two years in federal prison, three years supervised release, and, as part of his plea agreement, he has agreed to pay $259,594 in restitution for his crimes.

An investigation led by the Department of Insurance, Employment Development Department and U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) uncovered that Huang used a false passport, Social Security card and fabricated proof of employment documents in order to secure multiple different IncomeAssure policies under different identities. He would then wait to meet the eligibility requirements of the policies before submitting fraudulent claims.

In total, Huang received $128,753 from his fraudulent insurance policies.

“Partnering with insurance companies, state departments and the Diplomatic Security Service, allowed us to stop a complex fraud scheme in its tracks,” California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement. “Without our detectives’ actions in unraveling this fraud, the costs could have been much higher. Financial crimes can have a significant impact on consumers’ premiums, and this case serves as a warning that if you commit insurance fraud be prepared to do the prison time.”

After being indicted on federal charges in January, Huang fled to Georgia, where he was eventually apprehended and extradited back to California.

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