10 Fraudsters enter the 2022 Hall of Shame - Part 1
From a dentist who killed his wife on safari to a doctor who performed unnecessary back surgeries to a homeowner who set his own homes on fire, these fraudsters are shameless.
Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 will run on 12-6-22.
America’s most-notorious insurance criminals were dishonored with induction into the Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame. The No-Class of 2022 was elected by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
This year’s 10 convicted sultans of scandal committed a wide array of fraud crimes — from doing useless surgery on bogus slip-and-fall patients to hunting wives for life insurance on a safari to breaking patients’ teeth (ouch).
The Hall of Shame shines the national public spotlight onto a persistent and damaging crime spree that steals $308.6 billion every year, the Coalition estimates. Fraud drives up premiums for millions of honest, hard-working Americans. People also are maimed, killed and driven to despair when they’re victimized by fraudsters they trusted.
Publicly spotlighting and recounting the Shamers’ cases helps build public opinion against insurance fraud. The Coalition’s extreme schemers also help deter this crime. They’re all convicted. Thus, the Shamers spread a potent consumer message that fraud investigators and prosecutors relentlessly pursue justice. The reward for greed: hard time in a cold jail cell.
So, remember the Shamers and enjoy reading about their crimes, sort of.
A rich, unscrupulous Pennsylvania dentist planned to murder his wife during a safari trip in Africa without her having a clue, such a nice husband indeed. Why, you ask? Take a wild guess. If you thought money, then you are correct. It was silly since he really did not need a $5 million insurance payout, but the “loving” husband’s premeditated cover plan was that they were hunting a leopard in Kafue National Park in 2016 so his wife could attain her goal of shooting a leopard, husband of the year… NOT!
However, there was more than just greed involved, there was also adultery. The murdering dentist was Larry Rudolph. The wife he assassinated was Bianca Rudolph, and this occurred in a remote cabin in Zambia. It is said that after killing his wife, he looked lovingly into his mistress’s eyes and said, “I killed my f***ing wife for you,” at a steakhouse dinner in Phoenix, Arizona, after he learned that the FBI was investigating his late wife’s death in 2020. Thankfully, someone at the next table overheard his conversation in a public place.
The 67-year-old dentist was charged with murder and mail fraud. Life behind bars or worse, the death penalty, was on the table. His mistress was charged with lying to the grand jury and being an accessory to the murder after the fact. Not surprisingly, Rudolph denied being responsible for his wife’s 2016 death and told the Zambian police his wife “accidentally” shot herself as she packed away a shotgun while he was conveniently in another room as they were getting ready to return home.
His lawyer reportedly exclaimed, “They’ve chosen speculation over science. They’ve chosen fiction over fact,” during his opening statement. The safari murder trial took place in Colorado since that is where the insurance payments were made. Rudolph was found guilty in August 2022 and faces life in prison or the death penalty when he is sentenced in February 2023. There is no laughing gas where he’s headed.
Blinded by greed.
John Paul Cook committed disability fraud for 30 years to the tune of $1 million following an eye injury while on duty in 1986. The Asheville, N.C. man claimed his condition worsened over the next three decades. He was discharged from the Army and said his “severe visual deficit” made him unemployable.
The VA eventually declared Cook legally blind. While he was considered blind and 100% disabled, he managed to renew his driver’s license several times and legally owned and registered 30 vehicles. He also made many overnight excursions, taught archery and was a BB gun instructor for the Boy Scouts of America. He was also certified to read maps and used a compass (which was not in braille!). In addition to his disability benefits, Cook also received home remodeling assistance.
An anonymous tip in 2017 and a vigilant Veterans Affairs investigator caught onto his long-running scheme. Cook pled guilty on July 19, 2021, to defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and received 10 months in federal prison and was ordered to repay all of the disability money that could have gone to an actual veteran.
Arsonist burns out.
Wandale J. Fulton’s blizzard of home arsons, fake property thefts and bogus auto thefts finally crashed and burned in Kansas City, Mo. Fulton stole at least $322,000 overall. Fulton and his wife bought a $617,000 mansion and someone kicked in the door and stole $85,000 worth of possessions. They included two air conditioning units, three furnaces, a $6,500 lawn mower and 10 leather jackets he told his insurer. Yet Fulton billed American Family up to $300,000 and then dropped the claim when challenged.
Next, he bought a fixer-upper for $500 and insured it for $177,600. The place mysteriously burned down a year later. Fulton claimed he spent thousands renovating the home. Yet his supposed contractors didn’t exist — his forged invoices listed fake contractors who were his buddies. More houses then burned down for insurance money.
Fulton also created a phony car dealership. He stole people’s IDs and used their good credit to buy cars at auto auctions. Fulton sold the cars to his pals, who falsely told insurers that someone stole their vehicles. An innocent teacher invested his retirement savings in Fulton’s bogus car dealership. Fulton then stole his ID to buy auction cars. Fulton pled guilty in federal court and awaits sentencing.
Holy firestarter scam.
Frosting on a dessert bar outed the torching of a struggling Christian outreach center for $500K of insurance in Detroit Lakes, Minn. A sweet capture indeed. The Refuge was about to fold when its owners allegedly hired Gary John Bogatz, Jr. to burn down the place. Bogatz and another man planned a break-in into the Refuge building and ignite a fire using lawn mower gasoline after allegedly being asked to do so by a Refuge board member and another individual in connection to the building. What kind of people are part of this board? He claimed people connected to the center told him it would close soon unless “something happened” wink-wink, and the building had “a lot of insurance.” Bogatz said he was instructed to make it look like a burglary and to burn the place down. The fire generated a $500,000 insurance claim.
Investigators were led to Bogatz because he ate a frosted dessert bar from the fridge at the Refuge before setting the fire. He had frosting on his fingers (maybe the frosting was not tasty enough to lick off his fingers), then opened a back door, leaving a beautifully preserved frosted fingerprint on the door handle. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension analyzed the fingerprint recovered from the rear door-handle and matched the fingerprint to Bogatz. He received five years and eight months in prison. This gives “guilty” pleasures a whole new meaning.
Crash claim turns deadly. A former high school boys basketball;l coach killed himself two days before his sentencing for a false crash-damage claim while working as a personal-injury attorney. Matthew McCollister was found dead in his home in Twin Cities, Minn. McCollister was an acclaimed coach of the South St. Paul hoops team and an attorney until his disbarment in February 2022. A chiro introduced McCollister to a confidential informant who was working with the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau. The informant posed as a recruiter of supposed crash victims for bogus chiro treatment billed to auto insurers. McCollister met with the runner at the Red Cow restaurant and asked him to find people who supposedly were injured.
McCollister wanted the victims to get treated with him representing the patients to bring the bogus injury claims against auto insurers. He offered to pay the pretend runner $300 or more for each person recruited. McCollister then unknowingly directed one of two undercover patients to be “treated” by chiro Huy Nguyen.
McCollister’s fate was sealed when the undercover runner had lunch with McCollister, Nguyen and an MRI specialist named Quincy Chettupally in Minneapolis. The lunch was secretly video recorded, with the conspirators openly discussing the scheme. This ring and others were broken up by Operation Back Cracker — an ongoing effort by the Commerce Fraud Bureau, FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office. McCollister stood to spend up to 16 months in federal prison. We guess that is one lunch meeting that did not sit too well.
Part 2 of this series will introduce readers to a dentist who broke patients’ teeth, a shady slip & fall ring and several other notorious fraudsters.
Joseph Matos (joseph@insurancefraud.org), the director of communications for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, is a multi-award-winning creative and strategic executive who has successfully raised the bottom line for fortune 100 companies. He has also worked with some of the world’s largest and most prestigious ad agencies as their creative and strategic leader.
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