Auto Fraud — New York

Amount: Unknown

A New York man has been convicted of insurance fraud for, with the help of several co-conspirators, fraudulently obtaining policies with coverage limits of over $1 milllion, by registering more than 100 vehicles with fake companies, including delivery services. The delivery services aspect of the fraud prompted investigators to nickname the case “Operation Decoy Delivery.”

The scheme was complex. The fraudster spent time from May 2006 to June 2014 obtaining commercial auto insurance under the names of fake business partnerships by falsifying documents and making false statements to a variety of government agencies and insurance carriers. At trial, the fraudster admitted to forming fictitious companies in order to obtain insurance policies for several vehicles. At trial, evidence showed that the fraudster created more than a dozen fictitious business partnerships under a variety of names including Cleaners Express, Landscaping Express, and Mybeda Express.

More than 20 commercial insurance policies, providing coverage for more than 100 vehicles, with coverage limits of up to $50,000 per accident per vehicle were fraudulently obtained by the fraudster. He was found guilty of two counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, 17 counts of Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree, four counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, five counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree. He has been sentenced to 4 2/3 to 14 years in prison for his crimes.