Two bodily therapists and 5 different Miami folks had been arrested final week and charged with operating an intensive auto insurance coverage fraud ring, staging accidents and billing insurers as a lot as $161,000.
Florida’s Division of Monetary Providers stated that investigators had spent months final 12 months working with an informant and documenting the scheme. One of many organizers allegedly used the smartphone app often known as Instagram to recruit contributors and to arrange the staged accidents, DFS stated in a information launch.
“This staged auto accident scheme is an ideal instance of rip-off artists working to defraud the system for private acquire,” Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis stated in an announcement. “Sadly, these prices are then handed on to hard-working Floridians within the type of larger premiums.”
The no-fault auto insurance coverage scheme typically labored like this, authorities stated: After the staged accident, the obvious “victims” had been taken to bodily remedy clinics, the place they had been paid $1,000 to $2,000 to register as sufferers. Bodily therapists would instruct the contributors to complain of sure varieties of accidents and insurance coverage firms had been then billed for the remedy. The insurers included Kemper Insurance coverage, United Auto and Star Casualty, DFS stated.
The Miami bodily remedy clinics concerned had been Life Medical Rehab, Premier Wellness, Crimson Diamond, Holistic Medical and Evolution Med. These arrested had been William Malagon and Gilbert Espinosa, therapists; Kevin Pinilla, a runner used to recruit contributors; Jose Montesino, Michel Cribeiro and Alex Delgado, contributors within the staged accidents.
All had been booked into jail in Miami. Expenses included organized scheme to defraud; affected person brokering; staging accidents; insurance coverage fraud and grand theft. Extra arrests are anticipated, Patronis’ workplace stated.
Private harm safety automotive insurance coverage fraud has been a frequent drawback in South Florida. In 2018, a Florida legal professional was arrested for his alleged position in a $23 million PIP fraud scheme. In 2019 three had been charged in the same fraud, and in 2021, eight Floridians had been seized in Miami.
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