Latest Fraud Headlines

All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Father and Daughter in Central Calif. Workers’ Comp Fraud Must Repay Over $600K

Oct 22 2012 // Jerry Buffington, 69, and Cynthia Russell, 47, pled guilty in Kern County Superior Court to one count each of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud and eight counts each of tax evasion and were ordered to pay...

Md. Woman Convicted of Disability Fraud, Faces Up to 5 Years in Jail

Oct 12 2012 // Prosecutors say a woman who collected federal disability benefits while operating a fitness center has been convicted of making false statements to obtain those benefits. A jury convicted 48-year-old Darlene Altvater of...

N.J. Company Pleads Guilty to Theft of WC Insurance Premiums

Oct 11 2012 // New Jersey authorities announced that a Burlington County company has pleaded guilty for under-reporting the number of its employees and wages to evade the full payment of workers’ compensation insurance premiums....

U.S. Sues Wells Fargo in Civil Mortgage FIRREA Fraud Case

Oct 10 2012 // The U.S. government filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit on Tuesday against Wells Fargo & Co, the latest legal volley against big banks for their lending during the housing boom.The complaint, brought by the U.S....

Southern California Educator Arrested For Workers’ Comp Fraud

Oct 9 2012 // A teaching assistant in Southern California has been arrested on several felony counts of workers’ compensation fraud.Gerard Padilla, 45, an employee of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, has been arrested...

Tenn. Promotes Identity Theft Awareness, Plans ‘Free Shredding Event’

Oct 9 2012 // Tennessee’s Department of Commerce and Insurance and the Davidson County Sheriff’s office are teaming up to promote identity theft awareness. The two agencies will host a free shredding event from 10 a.m. until...

U.S. Insurers Say Fraud Costs on the Rise: Survey

Oct 9 2012 // Forty-five percent of insurers estimated that insurance fraud costs represent 5-10 percent of their claims volume, while 32 percent said the ratio is as high as 20 percent.This is according to a survey of U.S. insurers...

Police Say Louisiana Stolen Property Website Helping Owners

Oct 8 2012 // A new website launched last month by the Opelousas Police Department to help the rightful owners to recover their stolen property is producing results.Police Chief Perry Gallow told The Daily World he personally returned...

Austin, San Antonio to Share $400K to Fight Intellectual Property Theft

Oct 5 2012 // United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas Robert Pitman announced that the San Antonio Police Department and the Austin Police Department will each receive $200,000 in federal grant money to combat the...

Father and Daughter in Central Calif. Workers’ Comp. Fraud Must Repay Over $600K

Oct 5 2012 // Jerry Buffington, 69, and Cynthia Russell, 47, have pled guilty in Kern County Superior Court to one count each of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud and eight counts each of tax evasion and were ordered...

CNA Canada to Use CargoNet, NER to Combat Cargo Theft

Oct 5 2012 // CNA, a global business insurer, is now using CargoNet and the National Equipment Register (NER) — two national information sharing systems designed to help policyholders combat the growing problems of cargo and heavy...

Surplus Lines: Regulators Vetting of Alien Nonadmitted Insurers

Oct 4 2012 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is a non-profit entity that acts as the trade association for state insurance commissioners.Although the NAIC may play a central role in regulation of the...

Tennessee Court Upholds Man’s Paternity Fraud Claim

Oct 3 2012 // The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a man who was misled into thinking he was a father and ordered the child’s mother to reimburse him more than $25,000 for child support, medical expenses and insurance...

New York’s Fraud Suit Against JPMorgan May Aid Private Lawsuits

Oct 3 2012 // New York state’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. alleging fraud in mortgage-backed securities sold by Bear Stearns may be one of the broadest cases to come out of the financial crisis, but its impact is...

US Fidelis Founders Sentenced to Prison in Missouri

Oct 2 2012 // The co-founders of defunct St. Louis-area auto service contract seller, US Fidelis, has been sentenced to prison on charges of stealing consumers’ refunds, insurance fraud and consumer fraud.Missouri Attorney General...

Mississippi Ending 11-Year Old Insurance Fraud Case Involving Frankel

Oct 1 2012 // Mississippi officials are dropping the remnants of an 11-year-old lawsuit after collecting as much money as they think they can get in reparations for insurance fraud by a convicted financier who claimed Vatican...

Ohio Insurance Agent Sentenced for $39K Theft

Sep 24 2012 // A Cincinnati, Ohio-area insurance agent has been sentenced for theft from Hamilton County residents, the Ohio Department of Insurance announced.Former Ohio insurance agent Cecil Young, of Cincinnati, was sentenced to four...

Former Hackensack, N.J., Police Chief Sentenced for Insurance Fraud

Sep 21 2012 // A judge sentenced former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa to five years in prison on Thursday.Zisa will remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction for improperly removing his then-girlfriend from the scene of an...

Former Arkansas Agency Owner, Standridge, Pleads Not Guilty in Fraud Cases

Sep 20 2012 // A Mount Ida, Ark., man who operated several insurance agencies across the state has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges.Steven Alan Standridge entered the pleas Sept. 18 in federal court. He was indicted in August...

Maine State Worker Guilty of Workers Comp Fraud

Sep 20 2012 // A state Transportation Department worker has been convicted of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of workers compensation benefits by doing strenuous activities at his home when he was supposedly too hurt to...