Florida Woman Sentenced in $6 Million Force-Placed Insurance Scheme
Article 0 Comments A south Florida woman who was once a licensed insurance producer has been sentenced to spend more than three years in prison and forfeit assets after she pleaded guilty to a leading role in a $6 million property insurance and tax fraud scheme. Lisette Patricio, 64, of Davie, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami last month, three years after she was indicted for diverting millions of dollars in premium payments on force-placed policies on homes around the state, court documents show. She and co-conspirators Darely Carballeira, Arturo Morales and Yarelis Felipe told a company that three insurers had canceled force-placed policies. They then convinced the company to send more than $10 million for new policies. The conspirators kept $6.6 million of that, according to the indictment and felony information documents. “The co-conspirators prepared false statement of diligent effort forms fraudulently claiming that three named insurance companies in the State of Florida had declined to issue an insurance policy for the properties with lender-placed insurance policies obtained through Company 1,” prosecutors said in court documents. “It was a purpose of the conspiracy for the defendant and her co-conspirators to unlawfully enrich themselves by, among other things:...