Florida Agency Owner and Unlicensed Agent Charged in Fake Certificates Scheme

A man acting as an insurance agent—24 years after his license was revoked—and a south Florida insurance agency owner have been charged with taking premium payments and providing fake workers’ compensation certificates of insurance to a contractor.

Florida’s chief financial officer announced that Yaudat Antonio Ohan, 52, of Hialeah, in 2002 had been permanently barred from holding an insurance license. State Department of Financial Services records show he held a customer service representative license, issued in 1998, which is now invalid.

This spring, DFS investigators found that Ohan had allegedly sold fake insurance to a flooring construction company for at least four years. The issue came to light in April, when the contractor submitted two fraudulent certificates of insurance to a DFS compliance officer, the department explained.

The named insurance carrier confirmed that no policies had been purchased. Ohan reportedly kept $10,500 in premium payments, DFS noted. Miami Dade County court records show that Ohan has been charged with fraud, grand theft, racketeering and forgery.

He is represented by a lawyer and has pleaded not guilty. The court records show he had been convicted on racketeering charges in 2002 and was sentenced to community service and probation.

Investigators determined that in recent years Ohan had been working out of Hialeah Discount Insurance, owned or managed by Alberto Villaruel, a licensed property-casualty insurance agent, DFS said. Villaruel has been charged as an accomplice.

“Villaruel, a licensed insurance agent in the state of Florida, knowingly aided and abetted an unlicensed person in transacting insurance,” reads the arrest affidavit from a DFS investigator.

Villaruel, the agent-in-charge at the insurance agency, was responsible for ensuring that the agency operates in compliance with state laws and regulations, the investigator noted. But the unlicensed Ohan was considered to be a supervisor at the agency, the affidavit explained.

Shortly after investigators interviewed Villaruel, he sold the agency “in order to confound or hide illicit activity,” the document reads.

The investigation also resulted in a stop-work order against the flooring company, for failing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance on its employees.

The men could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday morning. A phone number listed for Villaruel was not in service. The number listed for Ohan was answered by a woman who said she did not know Ohan.