A man from Moldova was sentenced Monday to more than three years in federal prison for faking his death to collect a $2 million life insurance payment.
Igor Vorotinov, 55, pleaded guilty in May and will serve 41 months. The case stemmed from a life insurance policy he took out on himself and designated his wife, Irina, as the primary beneficiary.
According to Vorotinov’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, the Moldovan police discovered a man’s body by the side of a road near the village of Cojusna in 2011. Authorities mistakenly determined it was Vorotinov and that he had died of a heart attack.
After that, Vorotinov starting using the name “Nikoly Patoka” and lived in Transnistria, a small Russian-controlled region of Moldova, from approximately 2012 until approximately November 2018.
In 2001, his wife knowingly submitted a false death benefits claim, documents said. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company sent a $2 million check to her home in Maple Grove.
She involved a third party to open up an account in her son’s name to deposit the check. The proceeds were sent to Switzerland and Moldova. The son was stopped by Customs and Border Protection in Detroit. A computer seized by agents showed photographs of Vorotinov alive after the death claim, document said.
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