Ep 05: The $2M Client Betrayal & The Great Medical Exam Impersonation

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Welcome to Fraud Facts and Life Insurance with Agent Verified, the podcast that dives into the wild world of life insurance gone wrong. Every week, we peel back the curtain on real cases of financial chaos and help you spot the red flag before it's too late. We'll share what went wrong, why it happened, and how to protect yourself by working with the right agent. Hey, let's face it. These stories might have ended very differently if only they'd used agentverified.com hey. Hey.

Welcome back. Welcome back to Fraud Facts and Life Insurance with Betsy and Javon. Gonna pick up from that story that we were sharing last time that had us captivated. I can't wait to see the ending. Like, oh, this is. That was. That was an insane one. Okay, so if you're new here, we're sharing stories about fraud stories in life insurance that are just kind of unbelievable that people are actually doing this. So let's just show you what we mean that. That'll be easier than trying to explain it. All right, here we go.

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Verified.Com Former Maryland insurance agent pleads guilty to more than 2 million dollar fraud scheme. Jonathan Williams, a former insurance agent and financial planner, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after defrauding clients and his employer, New York Life Insurance, out of more than $2 million. Williams, who was licensed to sell insurance in Maryland, admitted that between 2009 and 2015, he used deceptive tactics to misappropriate funds from clients policies. He forged signatures and falsified documents, leading clients to believe their investments were secure while diverting money into his own accounts. The fraud was uncovered after a lengthy investigation and Williams now faces up to 20 years in federal prison. The case highlights the risks of financial fraud and serves as a reminder for consumers to stay vigilant when trusting financial professionals.

The moral of the story is you should always make sure that your life insurance agent is verified on agentverified.com if you need a life insurance agent, choose from thousands of agents and brokers by visiting ww.agentverified.com agent verified. Licensed, insured Verified.

Wow. Oh my word.

That's crazy. And I don't even know. Like, they just assume the insurance companies have. Like all they do is hurt the consumer. Because what do you think is going to happen if I got a $2 million loss on my books? Like, rates are going to have to go up, like stockholders are in trouble.

Like, people are not happy if that's.

Happening and 2 million is not even worth 20 years in prison. Like, that's Crazy.

No. Well, I think what's so interesting is the video we had watched in the last episode. You know, he had defrauded them out of 10,000 and got like six years suspended sentence. Right. And we were like, why is he not. To prison? Two million, 20 years. Okay. Hello. That. That's better. Okay, well, so let's, let's watch this again. Let's unpack a couple of things in here.

Former Maryland insurance agent pleads guilty to more than $2 million fraud scheme.

More than 2 million.

Jonathan Williams.

More than 2. And he pled guilty. So that's. So they, they found it out. They. They're gonna find out. They're not gonna let that 2 million just go under the, under the rug.

A former insurance agent and financial planner pleaded guilty to wire fraud after defrauding clients and his employer, New York Life Insurance, out of more than $2 million.

And they're a great company.

Like, they are a great company.

Yeah, man, that's. That's crazy work. Wow.

I mean, how did I just. And I know we keep coming back to this, but it's like the amount that it takes to do this. Like, just, Just do the right thing. Yeah, let's do the right thing. Okay, here we go.

Sell insurance in Maryland. Admitted that between 2009 and 2015, he used deceptive tactics to misappropriate funds from clients policies. He forged signatures and falsified documents, leading clients to believe their investments were secure. While diverting money into his own accounts. The fraud was uncovered.

Okay, like, how do you do that and live with yourself?

Yeah, they, they definitely skipped a big chunk on what he was doing because, you know, they just said diverted funds, but so that kind of screams to me like he was doing client withdrawals out of. Out of their accounts to his. Because New York Life, I believe, does more. Some on the investment side, the security side as well. So.

Yeah, so, you know, I know we've said this before, guys, if you've been here on the podcast, but if you're listening for the first time, check your accounts, like, check your policies, call in, you know, you. You can find out what's happening with your account. Your agent is, is there, they're there to help and support you, but you can always verif what's going on by contacting the carrier, you know, and like, hey, where's my money going? So you know how to protect yourself from something like this. That's one way. That's one way to do it.

But after a lengthy investigation and Williams now faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Good.

The case of financial fraud. And serves as a reminder for consumers to stay vigilant when trusting financial professionals.

The moral of the story is you should.

All right. How do you stay villagent. Use agent verify agentverify.com. that's. That's what it's there for.

That's funny we mentioned, you know, we, we were able. You could kind of not to piggyback the fraud story, but we were able to. One of my agents was able to protect his son's retirement. You know. Yeah. So he felt that was. That was pretty awesome for them to see what a hundred and fifty thousand dollars coming out of the market out of his 401k that was just sitting in the corner. It was with a previous employer. It was just sitting there eating up fees. You know, no one's paying attention to it because he doesn't work there anymore. And then. And he's like, he's under. He's in his 40s because he's been working for that long. And literally was able to put it in one of our safe retirement accounts we call a new. You know, this was a fixed index annuity that they were able to do. He's going to have Betsy like 4 or $500,000 with not. It was like a straight up crazy. And then I believe that from 150 because he. Yeah. And then the other crazy part is that they ended up giving him like 20% bonus as soon as the money dropped. And. And as this is the first time where he like the son was kind of upset because the market kept going down after he signed the. Right. So the market was going down. He thought he had X, Y, Z. But while the transfer and the rollover was taking place, the market kept going down. So he, so he kept watching his balance go down. But he got. Yeah. So, you know, so man, guys, again, we. That part is a little bit. I like to send that out to the. To folks that live, eat, breathe, sleep, you know, annuities. I'm just glad that our license. One thing I say with the annuities is that our license never allows you to, to lose your money. Right. Zero's your hero. So I love that. But he felt like proud papa to say, son, I got you. When you're shopping for life insurance, you're trusting someone with your money, your family and your future. But how do you know your agent is legit? That's where agent verified comes in. We verify insurance agents so you don't have to. Because credentials, track records and integrity Matters don't just pick any agent. Pick one that's agent Verified Search Verified agents now at www.agentverified.com because peace of mind should come standard.

Son. I got you. I love that. We actually had a new agent come into, like, our master agency. So I got to sit with her and, and help out, just kind of like go through some different stuff with her. And so she and her husband both had retirement accounts with. With the. With the state. All right, because they had worked for the state previously, but we're no longer working there. And so we started looking at it, and they were like, man, it's like doing nothing but losing money year after year. And so. So I was like, you know, hey, here's what a fixed index annuity can do. We can move it over. At the very least, you're not going to lose any more money, you know. But then I showed them like, hey, this is what it's, you know, projected to do. I mean, just crazy amounts of increase, you know, now they don't have to be worried so much about retirement. They know they'll have this extra coming in. But, oh, my word, trying to get that money from the state retirement was insane. It was insane. It took. It was probably one of the longest annuity transfers that. That I've ever had because the state was just giving them such a hard time. They tell them to sign this form and then say, oh, no, now you need this one. So, I mean, it's. It can take a lot. And, you know, usually that's why I have people that I send the annuities to. But I, you know, I was working with this agent because she was new and everything, but we got that role. We finally got that moved over form. They were so relieved. The agent is the wife, and the husband was like, can we just get this done? I just want my money out. I don't want to lose any more. I mean, it's so. It's just like, yeah, when you realize, if you want something safe, we've got those options.

But so many people don't even realize that their money in their retirement accounts can lose. You know, it's like, I remember when. When the market was doing this thing during COVID and I had clients that were teachers, and I warned them, you know, because they were still. Their money couldn't move. So I was like, just don't go look at it. You'll be okay. You'll be okay if you don't go look at it, right? If you don't go look at it, you won't be there but you know, because we couldn't do it because you can't, you know, while you're still in service, you know. Well, you keep, while you're still working with that company, you can't touch it.

So that's true. Well, I remember when I was still, because when I started an insurance I was still teaching. I taught for about a year and a half, did this part time before I moved over and so I couldn't move over my retirement like you said because it was, you know, I was still working there. But I did all I started all of my retirement contributions were going to like our, our secure tax free retirement. And then as soon as I move it on over I was like, move it on. Like let's get it over, let's protect it.

Yeah.

And it's still doing great today, thank goodness.

Nice.

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Awesome also. Well, who is our next fraudulent. We got to think of a name. Our frauder. Who's the next frauder?

I don't know. That. I don't know. We might need to work something work on that thing. Let's, let's work on that a little bit more. Okay, so here we go. Let me pull it up.

New by agent verified.com A Mason family is facing charges in connection with a 3 million dollar insurance fraud scheme which prosecutors say involved falsifying information about a sick relative. Mitch Stephenson, his wife Patricia and their daughter Kanda Stevenson are all charged with money laundering and conspiracy to launder money. According to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus, the family took out two life insurance policies on a relative who was seriously ill but failed to disclose important medical information to the insurance companies. They did not inform the insurers that the relative had diabetes, weighed 387 pounds and had other health conditions. Instead, the family arranged for a healthy woman to impersonate the ill relative during the medical exam required by the insurance companies. When the relative passed away, the insurers paid out two claims totaling $2.9 million. Unaware of the fraudulent scheme, prosecutors say that while the Stevensons were living lavishly, spending $16,000 at luxury retailer World of Decor and other high End stores. They were also engaged in a complex effort to hide their actions by moving money through various bank accounts. The U.S. attorney's office has seized the family's assets, including property located at Hampton Bay Place. They face serious charges. Money laundering carries a potential 20 year sentence for each count. While conspiracy to launder money could result in up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, the Stevensons could face significant time behind bars.

The moral of the story is you should always make sure that your life insurance agent. This is a little verified dot com.

This is different.

If you need a life insurance, this is different.

I, I don't even know what to say.

Wow.

Wow. So this is our fraud in. I mean, I guess it's fraud in life insurance because it's someone that's acting fraudulent. A family tried to get $3 million.

Not try.

Relative.

Not try.

No, that's right. They actually did. Well, I mean, I guess they truly didn't because now their money got seized. But they were living, they were living, living high for a little while. Okay, all right, let's break this down, shall we? Okay, let's break it down.

Is facing charges in connection with a 3 million dollar insurance fraud scheme which prosecutors say involved falsifying information about a sick relative. Mitch Stevenson, his wife Patricia and their daughter Canda Stevenson are all charged with money laundering and conspiracy to launder money, According to the U.S. attorney for the Southern.

Okay, I just got to say this. When I started in life insurance, I remember we had to take that anti money laundering certificate, the aml. And I was like, why do we have to take this guy that brought me and was like, well actually one of the ways that people launder money is through life insurance. And of course, you know, I've never, I've never even thought about laundering money in my entire life. I was like, how do people even do that? Like, oh, unfortunately now I know, you know, we have to, you know the way that one of the other reasons that we encourage you to have, you know, be on agent verified, work with people, work with agents that are verified is because we do have to go through all this training, you know, sign all this. The reason that when you're as an agent and you defraud families, like you've signed, you've, you've got, you've like committed to not do these acts. So it's like, it's a violation of, of signatures, of oaths that you've taken. Like it's a big deal. It's, it's a big deal.

Southern District of Ohio in Columbus the family took out two life insurance policies on a relative who was seriously ill, but failed to disclose important medical information to the insurance company. They did not inform the insurers that the relative had diabetes, weighed 387 pounds and had other health conditions.

Betsy, that right there, that's got to be some of the most creative.

Like how, like how I'm like, like.

When I was, when I was £375, I could not get any life insurance. That was over 50,000.

Like I remember, I remember when you were finally able to get some life insurance.

Yeah, when I was. Yep. When I lost all the weight and had to wait two years and then I had to go get labs and all that. But I would have never thought of such a thing. So guys, don't do this like now, now that we realize it's not an agent involved, but they had to like, tell the family member all of their information. You had to go get blood work. That's crazy.

No, I mean, this is what's in. But I'm also like having someone go impersonate the family member. That's so much, so much of this would not fly right now because of the medical databases that are like all the electronic databases, you know. So thankfully there's a lot of protection out there. So just to know if you're like, oh, maybe I'll try this and like, it's not going to work. They're going to, you're going to be found out. And as you can see, this family is now facing prison.

Arranged for a healthy woman to impersonate the ill relative during the medical exam required by the insurance companies. When the relative passed away, the insurers paid out two claims totaling $2.9 million. Unaware of the fraudulent scheme, prosecutors say that while the Stevensons were living lavishly, spending $16,000 at luxury retailer World of Decor and other high end stores, they were also engaged in a complex effort to hide their actions by moving money through various.

I don't, I don't understand. Why are you trying to move it through bank accounts if it came as a life insurance policy that is legit.

And documented or supposedly. Right. So it's like, that's probably part of what is raising up a bunch of red flags, you know. But then I'm also wondering, Javon, like, how, how quickly did the relative pass away?

Yeah, I was like shocked within two.

Years because maybe, maybe, maybe that's how they found it out. Because if it's within two years, the insurance carrier, especially for something as big as a case of this, they may have, like, kind of dug into it a little bit more and found out, oh, there's some issues going on here.

Yeah, a good point.

Attorney's office has seized the family's assets, including property located at Hampton Bay Place. They face serious charges. Money carries a potential 20 year sentence for each count, while conspiracy to launder money could result in up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, the Stevensons could face significant time behind bars.

The moral of the story is you should always make sure that your life insurance agent is verified on agency.

Always make sure your agent is verified. Oh, my goodness.

Maybe can't check on our clients. That one is different. So.

Well, I mean, we actually, we do check out our. I mean, because you've got to be able to verify their, you know, driver's license, I.D. does it match the person that I'm talking to? And I mean, nowadays there's so many instant decision products where the carrier is checking medical, like the medical database, the MIB immediately. And so, you know, if, you know, that's why we always tell our clients, like, hey, just don't, don't lie. Be up front, because we're going to, we're going to know. Like, the carrier is going to know. And so as long as you're upfront with me, we'll be able to find a carrier that can get you protected. But you don't want to have a bunch of declines on your. On your record either. So, like, crazy. That's crazy, crazy, crazy.

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Oh, man, the bar agency. We are raising the bar.

Oh, Lord.

I love it now, man, we've got our. We got our Aloha program going strong down here, you know, where we're bringing on agents, helping provide leads and the dialer and CRM and structured shifts. And I think I just, I love it because just seeing agents come on and find success with that, Javon, has been so encouraging, you know, because so many people, when they get started in life insurance, you know, going from having a job where, okay, As a teacher, I had to be there from 7:30 to 4:00 clock every single day. Like there was, that was what I did. And hey, this is exactly what you do to be a teacher and be successful. And then when I became a life insurance agent, it was, congratulations, you own your own business. Go figure it out. And I mean, I had great mentors and a great team of support, but at the end of the day, it was me. Like, it was up to me. And so just, you know, seeing over the last six years that I've been in the industry, that can be a struggle for a lot of people. And so, you know, with my Aloha program, I know you've got it with Take Flight, just providing a little bit more of that structure and transition as people come into the industry. Like, that's what's, that's what's been so exciting, like to see people that are showing up every day, they're dialing every day, they're communicating, they're asking for help and you know, seeing people write their first app. So we had a couple of agents, three agents this week that wrote their first application. And there's just, it's the, it's the best. It's better than when I wrote my first application. Like, to see someone that you can't, that, that you brought in, that you've trained, that is like, okay, I'm willing to do it. I'm willing to give this a try. I want to do this for my family. I want to change my life, my legacy. And, you know, then seeing them help families, put protection, I mean, I get children. I love it so much. I mean, it's what it's all about.

The part that I love with the program, you know, by taking agents that's, you know, not as confident in this world. No one has a college degree of insurance, right? So confidence is never there getting started. But funny story, I had one of my agents and bet she was so upset with herself and I'm like, why is she upset? And you know, and I'll tell you. So, and our team, my number is 8. Book 8 appointments, 4 people will show up. Why? Because we deal with humans, right? Don't, don't. People are not going to be there when they say they're going to be there, even if they want to be there. So you just got to prepare for it. So book eight appointments. We four people will show up. And you would write two applications every time. So she, she did eight app appointments booked, right? And the first person no showed her. And I Could just see her face.

Oh, like, she.

Devastated, devastated. And she's like, I've had 13 no shows, and I tied him. And I text them and I reminded them, and I text them, and I'm like, look, you did the work. Relax. That's all you can do. Do the work. You did the work. And then last night, because she's on the west coast, last night, she's on, like, I wrote six apps today. And I'm like.

Oh, no, she beat the record.

Yeah. I was like, yeah. And I was like, you see? You know, follow the sister. She's like, I'm so hard on my. I said, well, now we got to work on. I'm not hard on people. Just follow the path. Follow the. Follow the. Follow it, you know? So it was. You're right. The goosebumps. I went to bed. I'm like, man, that was awesome. It started off rocky, and then the excitement's there, and I was like, I know. She went to bed with her muscles in the air, you know? And that was. That was pretty awesome.

So I love that. All right, we got one last one, and we're gonna leave it on a cliffhanger, so you gotta come and check back in next week to see the ending. All right, let's see who we got. Last week, I got so into it, I. I think I forgot. I was like, this is fascinating. All right, here we go. We ready?

All right. Brought to you by agentverified.com Two former.

Insurance agents were arrested Thursday on felony charges for allegedly falsifying life insurance locations to collect over $300,000 in unearned commissions. Ali kakande of los angeles and suleiman lutal of woodland hills were taken into custody by u. S. Immigration and customs.

Okay.

Security investigations and the California department of insurance. Oh, they faced.

My goodness. So come back next week and we'll hear what happened with these guys. Oh, no.

Not only did they get the fed, they got customs and immigration involved. Wow.

This. This is gonna be a. This is gonna be an interesting one. So look, we. We gotta be ready.

Wow.

All right, guys, thanks for joining us on fraud facts and life insurance. We will see you next time.

Peace.

Thanks for listening to fraud facts and life ins insurance with agent verified. If this episode made you double check your policy or your agent, head over to agentverified.com to find someone you can trust. We'll be back next week with more fraud stories, facts and ways to protect what matters most. So stay smart, stay safe, and always verify your life insurance agent.