Insurance broker caught bilking $137,000 in commissions by falsifying policy applications

An insurance broker who collected nearly $137,000 in sales commissions by submitting fabricated insurance claims for end-of-life insurance policies on behalf of clients without their knowledge, and used those clients’ personal and banking information to pay for those policies, has was convicted federally. prison, US Attorney Zachary A. Cunha reported.

Bruno Francis Ragusa, of North Attleboro, Mass., pleaded guilty in June to one count of wire fraud. He was sentenced Oct. 8 to 18 months in federal prison, followed by two years of federal supervised release.

At the time of his guilty plea, Ragusa admitted that he forged the electronic signature of clients on over 50 insurance policy applications and ordered that all policy correspondence be sent directly to him and not to the clients. He also admitted that he used customers’ bank account information to pay for the policies without their knowledge and that he failed to notify his customers that the policies were purchased in their names.

As a result of his criminal conduct, Ragusa’s collected $136,956.56 in insurance sales commissions.

At the government’s request, Ragusa was ordered by the court to pay restitution to the insurance company in the amount of $70,379.47, representing the balance of commissions paid to Ragusa that have not yet been recovered. Upon learning of the fraud, the insurance company paid the individual victims whose funds were used without their permission.

The matter was investigated by the FBI. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the North Attleboro Police Department and the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation assisted in the investigation.

Source: US Attorney’s Office for Rhode Island

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