Latest Fraud Headlines

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

Former Ohio Insurance Agent Gets 9 Years in Prison for $1.1M Theft from Clients

Jul 29 2020 // A former Ohio insurance agent has been sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing more than $1.1 million from clients, according to the Ohio Department of Insurance.The ODI said Gregory Oliver, of Milford, Ohio, was...

South Africa Retailer Steinhoff Offers $1B to Settle Global Accounting Fraud Lawsuits

Jul 27 2020 // South Africa’s Steinhoff has proposed to pay around $1 billion to settle outstanding legal claims following a massive accounting fraud, a fraction of the over 9 billion euros ($10.5 billion) claimants are seeking.The...

Chemical Firm BASF and Its Law Firm to Pay $72.5M to Close Talcum-Asbestos Claims

Jul 24 2020 // BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemical maker, and a law firm agreed to pay a combined $72.5 million to resolve claims they hid evidence that certain talc products contained asbestos in an effort to scuttle thousands...

German Prosecutors Arrest Ex-Wirecard Execs on Suspicion of Running Criminal Racket

Jul 24 2020 // German prosecutors arrested three former top executives of Wirecard on Wednesday, saying it suspected them of masterminding a criminal racket to fake the company’s accounts and bilk creditors of billions of...

Connecticut State Trooper Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud, Larceny

Jul 23 2020 // A Moosup, Conn., man has been arrested and charged with illegally collecting workers’ compensation benefits while being employed as a Connecticut state trooper.Kevin Moore, age 41, was arrested by inspectors from the...

Former Comptroller Pleads Guilty to Stealing $259K from Louisiana Community College

Jul 21 2020 // The former comptroller for a community college in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $250,00 from her employer.Carol Bates, the former comptroller for Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC), pled guilty on...

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Joins Insurance Crime Bureau Team

Jul 21 2020 // The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) reports that Pat Martin has joined the association’s new general counsel.Martin is the former chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the...

Former Mississippi Priest Accused of Wire Fraud, Stealing $18K from Parishioners

Jul 20 2020 // A former priest in Mississippi has been indicted for wire fraud after federal investigators said he took more than $18,000 from parishioners for personal expenses.Father Lenin Vargas, who led St. Joseph Catholic Church in...

Georgia Court: No Coverage Owed for Shooting Due to Criminal Act Exclusion

Jul 20 2020 // An insurer is not liable for injuries caused by a policyholder who shot a 15-year-old boy in the head because the policy excluded coverage for criminal acts, a split Georgia Court of Appeals panel decided.The 2-1 ruling by...

Maryland Governor Announces $501M Unemployment Insurance Fraud Case

Jul 17 2020 // Maryland uncovered a massive criminal enterprise involving identity theft and more than 47,500 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims in the state adding up to more than $501 million, Governor Larry Hogan said Wednesday,...

Berkley Crime Names Platt Assistant Vice President/Underwriter for West

Jul 17 2020 // Berkley Crime, a division of Berkley FinSecure, a Berkley Co., has named Brian Platt assistant vice president-Underwriter. Platt will be focused on developing stand-alone fidelity/crime business across a spectrum of...

Florida Official Pleads Guilty in $5M Hurricane Fraud Scheme

Jul 17 2020 // A Florida city official pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in a scheme to bilk the federal government out of $5 million in Hurricane Michael cleanup money, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.Former Lynn Haven...

California Nursing Home Operator Settling Fraud Claims for $16.7M

Jul 15 2020 // A Los Angeles company that runs 27 nursing homes has agreed to pay $16.7 million to settle allegations of Medicare fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.Longwood Management Corp. didn’t acknowledge any...

Former Owner of Cleaning Company Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud

Jul 14 2020 // The former owner of a Massachusetts cleaning company has been charged with wage theft and workers’ compensation insurance fraud, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced.Marcello Pompa, of Saugus,...

Massachusetts Man Indicted for More Than $200K Insurance Fraud Scheme

Jul 13 2020 // A Holbrook, Mass., man was indicted in connection with damaging luxury cars bought under false pretenses in order to collect insurance proceeds, Attorney General Maura Healey announced.Dion Augustin was indicted by a...

German Officials Seize Server With U.S. Police Files Stolen in Data Breach

Jul 10 2020 // At the behest of the U.S. government, German authorities have seized a computer server that hosted a huge cache of files from scores of U.S. federal, state and local law enforcement agencies obtained in a Houston data...

Texas Communities to Use $12M in Grants to Combat Vehicle Crimes

Jul 9 2020 // Texas suffers from more than $1 billion in losses from motor vehicle crime each year, according to the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority (MVCPA), a division of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.To help Texans...

Insurance Fraud Investigators Ramp Up During Reopening, Even as Claims Volumes Drop

Jul 7 2020 // Fraud inevitably rises after natural disasters and during economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought both conditions to the entire globe at once.Fraud-prevention advocates have long been warning about the coming...

Wirecard Probe Expands with Arrest of Head of Dubai-Based Subsidiary

Jul 7 2020 // BERLIN/FRANKFURT – German prosecutors said on Monday they had arrested the head of a Dubai-based subsidiary of Wirecard, widening the circle of suspects in a multi-billion-dollar fraud investigation into the collapse of...

Houston Pharmacist Gets 10 Years in $21M Workers’ Comp Fraud Case

Jul 6 2020 // A Houston pharmacist has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in a $21 million workers’ compensation fraud case.George Philip Tompkins, 75, the self-proclaimed “Compound King” and former owner of Piney...