A man from Plymouth Minnesota has pleaded guilty to faking his own death for $2 million in life insurance proceeds.

In March 2010 the fraudster took out a $2 million life insurance policy on his own life designating his wife as the primary beneficiary. A year and a half later authorities in the country of Moldova found a body under a bridge. Documents recovered from the body included a passport, hotel cards, and contract phone numbers identifying the body as that of the fraudster. The wife of the fraudster traveled to Moldova to identify the body and have it cremated. After her return to the United States, she submitted a claim for the life insurance policy. In March 2012, a check for the $2.04 million life insurance policy payout was mailed to the fraudsters wife who put $1.5 million in a bank account in her son's name. Over the next few years, that $1.5 million was transferred to accounts in Switzerland and Moldova. Not dead, the fraudster assumed a false name and lived in Moldova from 2012 to late 2018. The fraudsters son was caught with photographs of his father that had been taken after his purported death. The son and his mother were each convicted of felonies and jointly ordered to pay a little more than $2 million in restitution.  The fraudster was arrested in Moldova in November 2018 and extradited back to Minnesota. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison and has been ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution.