Maryland Couple Indicted in $20M Insurance Fraud Scheme

A federal district court in Baltimore, Maryland, unsealed an indictment charging a Maryland couple with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and related charges for money laundering, filing false tax returns and identity theft.

The indictment charges that from 1996 to the present, James and Maureen Wilson allegedly conspired to defraud insurance companies by obtaining more than 30 life insurance policies for applicants by mispresenting their health, wealth and existing life insurance coverage. The total death benefits from these policies allegedly was approximately $20 million.

The indictment also charges that the Wilsons conspired to defraud individual investors to obtain funds that the Wilsons used to pay premiums on fraudulently-obtained life insurance policies. To conceal the fraud, the Wilsons allegedly transferred the proceeds of the fraud through multiple bank accounts, including accounts in the name of trusts. The Wilsons allegedly did not report approximately $5.7 million and $2 million that they received in life insurance proceeds on their 2018 and 2019 individual tax returns.

If convicted, the Wilsons faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering and three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. James Wilson faces two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft, and Maureen Wilson faces 10 years in prison for transactional money laundering.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice