False Claims Fraud — Alaska

Amount: $400,000

The head of an army unit stationed in Alaska is charged with filing nearly half of a million dollars in fraudulent insurance claims over the last three years. The Lt. Col. faces charges of mail and wire fraud, and money laundering. He made over $475,000 in claims and received almost $400,000 in claim payouts. One claim was for $215,000 when he claimed that a U-Haul van was burglarized while he was moving from his home to the base he was assigned to. Recently he allegedly claimed a backpack that contained an Apple Watch was stolen from a parking lot, and submitted a falsified police report to his insurance company in order to document his claim. In a similar situation, he reported another bag that went missing during a trip to Fiji to his insurance company.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.