9 Charged in 'Elaborate' $600K Florida Home Insurance Fraud
"There's no blood, there's no weapons, no gun shot, no body, but this is nonetheless a very serious crime that affects every single one of us," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, announcing charges against nine Floridians for allegedly running a $600,000 insurance scam across the county.
May 01, 2019 at 04:27 PM
3 minute read
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is bringing charges against nine alleged organizers of a homeowners insurance scam, following a yearlong investigation that found several false and exacerbated water-damage claims had defrauded insurance companies of more than $600,000.
Public adjuster Barbara Maria Diaz de Villegas is accused of running the scam with her father Jose Gonzalez, also a public adjuster — charged with advocating for homeowners in appraising and negotiating claims, and typically entitled to a cut of any settlement.
But Fernandez Rundle's office claims the father-daughter pair generated more than $2.5 million by recruiting homeowners through friends and referrals, then having a plumber create damage at the property.
That plumber would then allegedly ask a complicit adjuster and an insurance agent to help increase coverage on the homeowner's insurance policy — or create one if the homeowner was uninsured.
“He'd take a hammer, he'd break some tile, so that the coverage would be for the whole flooring, let's say, in the house,” Fernandez Rundle said. “He would break water pipes to make it look like there was a flood, and he actually put the water there as well, to make it appear as if the broken pipe created the flood in the house.”
It's the kind of scam that ramps up insurance rates for all Floridians, costing the average person up to $700 a year, according to Fernandez Rundle.
“There's no blood, there's no weapons, no gun shot, no body, but this is nonetheless a very serious crime that affects every single one of us,” Fernandez Rundle said. “No one is not getting hurt.”
The alleged organizers have been charged with Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, violations, conspiracy to commit RICO, filing false insurance claims and grand theft. Prosecutors are seeking a $500,000 bond. If convicted, the defendants could get up to 30 years in prison.
Police said they plan to arrest 25 Miami-Dade homeowners from Aventura to Homestead in the coming weeks.
The scam was dismantled when insurance companies grew suspicious and alerted authorities, according to Fernandez Rundle, who showed reporters screenshots of email strings depicting Diaz de Villegas asking the insurance agent to create new policies or take out increased coverage to cover water damage. In one email, Diaz de Villegas' assistant told the plumber to wipe down a living room baseboard so that old water damage would look new.
Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis called it “an elaborate scheme that ultimately makes the American Dream of owning your own home unaffordable.”
More criminal law stories:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllDivided State Court Reinstates Dispute Over Replacement Vehicles Fees
5 minute readBack-To-Back Hurricanes' Impact on Florida Legal Work Will Go Beyond Usual Suspects
5 minute readHolland & Knight Snags 2 Insurance Partners in New York and Philadelphia From Goodwin
3 minute readTurning the Tables: Defense Litigators Embrace Lawsuits, Alleging Fraud at Plaintiffs Shops
6 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250