2008 Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame

Insurance fraud is an $80-billion crime annually, and has grown more organized, violent and invasive in recent years. The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud's Hall of Shame for 2008 includes:

 

Serial Arsonist

Mr. Allen led an arson ring that bought low-priced homes, filled them with cheap furniture and torched them. He brought in millions of dollars in illicit gains with the help of a crooked insurance adjuster. Mr. Allen is now serving four years in prison.

 

Bad Judgment

An appellate judge collected $440,000 from two insurance companies after lying about injuries he received in a five miles-per-hour fender bender that he claimed nearly crippled him. Yet the following year, prosecutors say, he was golfing regularly enough to keep up his handicap, piloted a plane at least 50 times submitting a medical certificate to the Federal Aviation Administration that stated he had "no injuries, physical problems, or physical limitations," and renewed his membership in a scuba divers association. The judge is awaiting sentencing.

 

Crippled Triathlete

Mr. Brabson collected more than $1.2 million in disability claims due to being crippled in a car crash and confined to a wheelchair. During this terrible disability, Brabson routinely competed in triathlons and participated in mountain hiking. He received a one-year sentence.

 

Truth Decay

Children having dental work done at North Carolina dental clinics, owned by two dentists, had teeth pulled and painful root canals done unnecessarily. At least two kids each had 16 root canals and crowns. The dentists bilked Medicaid out of millions. $10 million was paid by the dentists to settle federal civil charges.

 

Efforts by insurers and government agencies have become far more sophisticated, and have led

to increased prosecution of these criminals. To view the complete 2008 Hall of Shame report,

visit www.lnsuranceFraud .org.

 

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