Former California Insurance Agent Convicted After Stealing $3.7M
A former insurance agent plead guilty to stealing premium from a premium finance company.
Formerly licensed insurance agent T. V. R., 59, who currently resides in Las Vegas, but operated an insurance agency based in Northridge, California, pleaded guilty today to one federal count of wire fraud after a California Department of Insurance investigation revealed that she had stolen more than $3.7 million from a premium finance company named A. C. C.
The investigation was initiated after the C. received a complaint from the company, A., that V. R. had committed insurance premium financing fraud on the company. The complaint alleged V. R. submitted fictitious loan applications through A.’s loan system, which prompted A. to send premium funding payments to V. R. .
The investigation reportedly revealed that from January of 2021 through December of 2023, V. R. created and submitted dozens of fraudulent finance agreement forms to A. that deceived A. into believing V. R. had sold insurance policies to her clients, and that those clients were applying for a loan from A. to pay the premiums for those policies. A. reportedly approved the loans noted on the fraudulent finance agreement forms, and then deposited the loan proceeds into V. R.’s trust account via electronic funds transfer. A. believed V. R. would forward the loan proceeds to the insurance carrier noted on the loan application.
Almost all of the information noted on the fraudulent finance agreement forms was false. For example, the forms contained fictitious insurance policy numbers as well as forged electronic signatures for fictitious insureds. In addition, the forms noted a total of only two different addresses for dozens of different insureds, and both of those addresses are for homes rented by V. R..
In total, V. R. received roughly $3.7 million in stolen payments from A. as a result of all of the fraudulent finance agreement forms she submitted to A. . V. R. reportedly then used the stolen money to purchase extravagant items for herself and her family members.
Since the A. loans required repayment within one year, some of the initial loans were repaid by V. R. However, the initial fraudulent loans were repaid with the funds V. R. received from the subsequent fraudulent loans, similar to the pattern seen in a Ponzi scheme. After accounting for V. R.’s repayment of some of the initial fraudulent loans, V. R. currently owes A. approximately $1.8 million.
The case was prosecuted by the Major Frauds Section of the United States Attorney’s office in Los Angeles. V. R. is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on March 31.
Kaynak: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2025/01/07/807034.htm