Utah Developer to Pay $6.3M in Fraud Case

A company owned by Ogden, Utah, developer Gadi Leshem has agreed to repay $6.3 million in workers’ compensation premiums stemming from a case in California.

Los Angeles officials say Cover-All Inc., a carpet and subflooring installer, pleaded no contest to one count of insurance fraud following a two-year investigation.

As part of a settlement, Los Angeles County agreed to drop four charges of insurance fraud and one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Leshem’s attorney, Mark Werksman, says the case was essentially a dispute over premiums due “by a fast-growing company with over 500 employees in California that tried to do the right thing whenever it could.”

The settlement ends a case that began in the fall of 2006, around the same time that Leshem and his wife, Miri, began buying properties in Ogden that they plan to sell to Wal-Mart.