The February 2012 issue of the Insurance Fraud Bureau’s focusFraud is now available on the Bureau’s website and updates a few of the cases that Agency Checklists has reported on in its Law & Order Section.
Case Update: Lowell Staffing Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Workers’ Compensation Fraud
Agency Checklists reported on this case in July of 2011. Dara Duong, of Lowell, was indicted by a Middlesex Grand Jury for three counts of Workers’ Compensation Fraud and two counts of Larceny over $250. The Insurance Fraud Bureau says that on January 19, 2012, Duong pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the House of Correction, suspended for three years with probation. You can read the rest of the IFB’s summary of the case here.
Case Update: Guilty Pleas for Felony Premium Fraud in Misclassifying Workers as Independent Contractors
Agency Checklists reported on this case on January 17, 2012 in which Shawn Bryan and Antoinette Capurso-Bryan, both of Newton, and their company, Newton Contracting, of 69 Howard Street, Watertown, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to indictments arising out of the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. focusFraud reports that Bryan pleaded guilty to four counts of workers’ compensation premium evasion, 12 counts of unemployment contribution evasion, four counts of misclassification of employees as independent contractors and one count of failure to pay the minimum wage. The IFB says he was sentenced to two years in the House of Correction, with the balance suspended for five years.
Bryan’s partner, Capurso-Bryan was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $74,000 in fines after pleading guilty to four counts of misclassification of employees as independent contractors and one count failure to pay the minimum wage. Their company Newton Contracting Company also pleaded guilty and along with Bryan, was required to pay $100,000 in restitution and $150,000 in fines. You can read about the rest of the IFB’s summary of the case here.
Case Update:Waltham Man Indicted on Fraudulent Unemployment and Insurance Claims Totalling $40,000
Agency Checklists first reported on this case in January of 2011. At that time John Toyias, age 45, of Waltham, MA was charged with 55 counts of Unemployment Fraud, two counts of Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud, two counts of Larceny over $250 and Attempted Larceny. Mr. Toyias is the president and owner of Jayco Landscaping Company in Waltham, a waste removal and dumping company for cities and towns in the Commonwealth. According to the Attorney General’s office, authorities believe that Mr. Toyias filed multiple fraudulent insurance claims for property damage to a methane pipe owned by the town of Canton. In 2006 and 2007, Mr. Toyias had employees file two separate reports to their respective insurers Arbella and Premier for approximately $20,000 resulting from the alleged damages and emergency repairs done to the same methane pipe when the employees backed over it with their car.
In an update on the case, the IFB reports that in October 2011, Mr. Toyias pleaded guilty to multiple counts and for stealing more than $300,000 through multiple unemployment and insurance fraud schemes. Ultimately, the court sentenced him to serve five months in the House of Correction plus three years probation. He also was ordered to pay $30,600 in restitution. You can read the rest of the IFB’s summary of the case here.
Similar items of interest…
To read this or past issues of The Insurance Fraud Bureau’s focusFraud, click here.
To read more Law & Order articles from Agency Checklists, click here.
