Magna Carta Companies, also known as Public Service Mutual Insurance Company, made the discovery
Jeffrey Bannon, 37, of Clinton, MI, formerly of Swansea, MA, and Steven Cournoyer, 37, of North Providence, RI have been indicted in connection with their scheme to defraud the insurance carrier, Magna Carta, of more than $23,000. In making the announcement, Attorney General Martha Coakley said, “We allege that these defendants conspired to defraud an insurance company of thousands of dollars for their own personal benefit.”On June 17, a grand jury in Norfolk County returned indictments against both Bannon and Cournoyer. The defendants will then be arrainged in Norfolk Superior Court at a later date.
Bannon, a former regional claims manager for the Magna Carta Companies, also known as Public Service Mutual Insurance Company, is alleged to have conspired with Cornoyer to defraud the insurance company out of a closed paid claim. The case related to a slip and fall that occurred in a Wellesley restaurant in March of 2007, which was insured through Magna Carta. According to the investigation, in February 2008, Bannon acting within his authority as a Regional Claims Manager, reopened the property liability claim relating to a slip and fall at the restaurant. He then authorized a payment of $23,500 to Cournoyer, who deposited the insurance proceeds in his bank account. Cornoyer subsequently wrote a series of checks from that bank account to Bannon totalling approximately $6,240.
In 2010, following an internal investigation, Magna Carta discovered the alleged fraud and forwarded it to The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts who then referred it to the Attorney General. In 2011, alone, the Attorney General recovered nearly $5.6 million in restitution orders on some 33 different matters involving insurance fraud.
