A federal grand jury in New Haven, Connecticut, has returned an indictment charging six men with fraud and conspiracy offenses for allegedly staging car accidents for the purpose of defrauding automobile insurance companies.
Charged in the indictment were Mackenzy Noze, Jonas Joseph, Frandy Dugue, Carlins Calixte, Jacques Fleurijeune, and Pierre Jeudy.
As alleged in the indictment, the defendants and others deliberately staged approximately 50 automobile accidents in and around New London County. A high percentage of these planned crashes were single vehicle accidents on remote roads where there were no witnesses other than the occupants of the crashed vehicle, according to the charges.
As alleged, after each staged accident, the defendants filed fraudulent property damage and bodily injury claims with various automobile insurance companies.
Prosecutors said that they then collected payouts – ranging from about $10,000 to about $30,000 per accident – on the fraudulent claims from the insurance companies.
The indictment charged each defendant with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and multiple counts of mail and/or wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
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].