Insurance Broker Caught Pocketing $137K Commissions by Forging Policy Applications

An insurance broker who collected nearly $137,000 in sales commissions by submitting fabricated insurance applications for end-of-life insurance policies in clients’ names without their knowledge, and used those clients’ personal and banking information to pay for those policies, was sentenced to federal prison, reported U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Bruno Francis Ragusa, of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in June to a charge of wire fraud. He was sentenced on October 8 to 18 months in federal prison, followed by two years of federal supervised release.

At the time of his guilty plea, Ragusa admitted that he forged clients’ electronic signatures on more than 50 insurance policy applications and directed that all policy correspondence be sent directly to him and not to the clients. He also admitted that he used clients’ bank account information to pay for the policies without their knowledge, and that he failed to advise his clients that policies had been purchased in their names.

As a result of his criminal conduct, Ragusa’s collected $136,956.56 in insurance sales commissions.

At the government’s request, Ragusa has been ordered by the court to pay restitution of $70,379.47 to the insurance company, representing the balance of commissions paid to Ragusa that have yet to be recouped. On learning of the fraud, the insurance company repaid individual victims whose funds were used without their permission.

The matter was investigated by the FBI. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the North Attleboro Police Department, and the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation assisted in the investigation.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for Rhode Island