‘Architect’ Designed His Future

LeAndre Drake Davis of San Jose was convicted Sept. 8 on 26 federal charges related to three fraud schemes he operated in the wake of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The 37-year-old man was the president of Shadowbrook Design Group, which was retained by Allstate to prepare engineering reports to assist the insurance company in adjusting claims for quake damage.

Davis and Shadowbrook prepared false and misleading engineering reports that were used to settle the claims of Allstate policyholders. On the reports Davis falsely represented that he was a licensed architect. In addition, some reports were prepared without adequate inspection while others were used to settle claims without an engineer ever inspecting the policyholder’s property.

During the two-week trial, the jury watched a portion of an interview broadcast on the ABC program 20/20, in which Davis admitted that he had falsely represented himself to be a licensed architect. The jury also heard testimony from a woman who hired Davis to repair a South Central Los Angeles home. After receiving payment of $10,000, Davis demolished the home and abandoned the project when the woman refused to pay more money.

Davis also defrauded Allstate and some of the persons who prepared reports for Shadowbrook by submitting false and inflated claims for payment to Allstate. After being paid by Allstate, Shadowbrook did not pay some of its subcontractors for the work they had performed.

Lastly, Davis defrauded Los Angeles-based Pine Cobble Funding Corporation by selling more than $100,000 worth of imaginary accounts receivable for work he had purportedly done for Farmers Insurance Group and State Farm Insurance. This fraudulent scheme was a contributing factor towards Pine Cobble going out of business in 1998.

The case is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the California Department of Consumer Affairs.