Ep 08: 11 Felonies, 9 Stolen Identities & $38K in Dirty Commissions

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 use agentverified.com hey. Hey. Welcome back.

Welcome back, everyone. It is Betsy Barr and Javon Spencer and we are here with fraud facts.

And life insurance with Agent Verified.

Verified, that is right now. Guys, we've got some stories for you about fraud that is just crazy, crazy. And then of course, we've got some more positive stories, more uplifting stories so that it's not all negativity. But we're gonna start by getting back to that cliffhanger that we left you guys on last episode. And I mean, all I remember is 11 felonies. So like that's just, that's where we're starting. So I was like, oh, who knows where this is going? So let me get this shared and let's find out what happened with Mr. 11 Felonies.

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Gautam Aurora of Tustin was arrested today on 11 felony counts related to securities violations and money laundering after allegedly defrauding four victims of $100,000 through non existent investments. Between 2018 and 2019, Aurora, a licensed insurance agent, recruited individuals into a multi level marketing scheme, obtaining their financial information under the guise of a financial review. He deposited their funds into his personal account and used the money for personal expenses, including casino trips. Aurora made false representations about the investments, hiding his own financial struggles including overdrawn bank accounts and significant debt. His broker dealer license was revoked in 2019 and he failed to pay $57,000 in restitution to victims resulting in the suspension of his insurance licenses. Aurora was arrested by the Tustin Police Department and booked into the Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,500. The case is being prosecuted by the Major Fraud unit of the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

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That is crazy Betsy.

That is.

The chickens even think that is Crazy.

The chickens even think. Yes, good morning, chickens. Okay, 11 felonies.

But the Sarah part is he was doing it with people that he walked in and said, I'm doing a financial review probably to protect their money. Like you're going into this knowing that you're going like, I don't even understand the thought process of someone that we're doing a financial review. And like, guys, so many red flags.

I'm doing it and I'm doing it to see how much I can scam off. I, I mean like, how do you just walk into someone's home and do that?

Yeah, I mean, so many red flags. Like what paperwork? Like where did you wire the money to? Did you write a check? Did you call the company? And like, I'm not victim flaming, but these are things that we're going over so you guys know what to look for when your money is, is missing. Like, and it's for.

So when you put. Yeah, okay, so let's watch, let's break it down because there's a, there's a lot of ways that we can kind of give some tips on. Don't, don't let this happen.

So let's, let's kind of you by agent verify.

All right.

Was arrested today on 11 felony counts related to securities violations and money laundering after allegedly defrauding four victims of $100,000 through non existent investments.

Okay, so let's, first of all, money laundering, I mean, Javon, we all have to take an anti money laundering course and we have to like stay up to date on it every two years. And carriers won't let us keep writing business if it's not up to date. Like.

Well, he took the course just to.

He took the course. He took it to learn how to. Golly, that's just crazy. Non existent investments, like $100,000. Okay, okay, let's keep going. Let's keep going.

Between 2018 and 2019, Aurora, a licensed insurance agent, recruited individuals into a multi level marketing scheme, obtaining their financial information under the guise of a financial review.

Okay, so yeah, this is what you were saying. Like, yeah, a lot of times when we're walking in and helping families, like we're going to do a financial review, you know, because how, how do we know what you truly need if we don't understand like the full picture? So yes, like we want to ask questions. Where, where's your like monthly budget going? Do you have money going out for retirement? Are you, do you have anything in savings and what are your.

Yeah, and in those meetings, people are Telling them their fears, you know, their fears of losing money, you know, and then they also mention a multilevel marketing scheme, which, Betsy, it sounds like, you know, he was trying to do another situation with the folks, like some Bernie Madoff, like I got a program that can get you into type of situation, but I don't know, it's not telling us. But we're just filling in the, filling in the blanks.

We're filling in a few blanks. But it's like what, you know what I, what it comes up here is this like, you know, I was mentioning how important the financial review is because, you know, in, in some cases we meet with families and we're like, actually you don't even need what, what we have to offer. Like we're doing it too, just to make sure that we offer something that's going to be suitable and within the budget and all that. But sometimes I tell clients, actually you're really protected, you don't need to put anything else in place. I'm not allowed to over insure you. So like thumbs up, you're doing a great job.

And you know, and with insurance products that we offer, we can't lose you any money. But putting it directly in someone's bank account and going to the casino, that, that's a problem. That's a problem.

And then, I mean, thinking about a multi level marketing scheme, if your life insurance agent is offering you an opportunity and then you have to pay them something to take partake in that, that's a red flag.

That's a red flag. That's the red flag.

That's.

He deposited their funds into his personal account and used the money for personal expenses, including casino trips. Aurora made false representations about the investments, hiding his own financial struggles, including overdrawn bank accounts and significant debt. His broker dealer license was revoked in 2019, and he failed to pay $57,000 in restitution to victims, resulting in the suspension of his insurance licenses. Aurora was arrested by the Tustin Police Department and booked into the Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,500.

You know, that makes me laugh, Jamal, because he had to pay 57,000 in restitution to victims. Okay. And which he failed to. And then his bail was set at, look here, 100,000, 500. And how much did he steal?

He stole 400,000. He took 100,000.

100,000 from four victims. Yeah. So it's like he's having to pay back more than he got.

Rightfully so.

So it's like you Know, just do the right thing. Because, I mean, a hundred thousand people are making that in a month.

Yeah, you can in a month.

Sometimes, like, so it's like it doesn't pay. Just do the right thing and. And then you don't have to worry about going. Having your license revoked, having felonies, going to jail.

Going to jail.

The case is being prosecuted by the Major fraud unit of the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The moral of the story is you should always put him in jail. Oh, my goodness.

I mean, just how do you think you're not going to get caught with that? Like, that's crazy.

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Move.

Let's see. Have your. Has your agency, Jaman, have y' all been able to help any kids this week? That's. That's a different question.

That's. Man, we are any kid.

Any children. The precious. Our future.

Our future. Yes. Actually, one of my agents are. He's. That's. We looked at his numbers. He's already at two quarters of the. We're in. We're ending second quarter. So he has over a hundred applications written already by the second quarter.

That's amazing.

I put a bonus out there for my team that anytime you write over 10 applications, you get a bonus. So what does he do? He's teaching the other agents. He asks about all the kids and grandkids and.

Okay.

And grandkids and grandkids. So you know, you can ensure. Parents and grandparents can ensure. And. And I. And I taught him this because I was taught this, you know, as well. Like, don't even really ask, you know, what grandparent is not going to insure, you know, their grandchild for at least 5, $10,000 of life insurance. That's locked in for life. So that's another cool thing, is that he's helping all these grandparents make sure that their grandchildren just have something in place. Like, they don't ever want to think about it. But the other thing is, is locking in the rate for the child at 2, 3, 4, 5, like, under 18, it's locking in that rate for the rest of their life. So, you know, a lot of the life insurance for children are whole life policies, very small, you know, policies, but it's locking the rates in. So he's just helping so many parents and grandparents that's like, you know, with additional policies, 3, 4 children every day getting insured. No one likes to think about it, talk about it.

Yeah. I was about to say, is that. Is that hard? Like, does that. Does he kind of get any pushback on that? You know, because a lot of people. Why would they want to think about. I mean, I have life insurance on my kid. That's kind of morbid.

Yeah.

Listening to his okay to say.

Yeah. Listening to his calls is more about saving them money in the long run because they know they're going to need insurance. So, you know, you and I both know if you talk to an adult at 40, 50 years old, and they say, oh, my granddad had me a life insurance policy when I was five. Can you beat those rates, Betsy?

Never.

Never.

I, like, I'm like, I mean, I'm happy for him, but I'm like, yeah, no, there's no way.

There's nothing. Right. Because life insurance is charged by age and time when you get it. So it's more so for those that don't want to take the mental drive down, like, what if something happened to my children? And, you know, it's like, hey, do you want to save your child money for their future? You want to start paying on something that is going to, you know, allow them to build some kind of cash value of some sort, but bigger than anything, not overcharge them later in life because you're locking it in right now while they're unable to do it themselves? And I was like, yeah, it's five, ten bucks. Who wouldn't spend five, ten bucks? And he's, for some reason, getting these families with lots of children and grandchildren. So they're just happy. And, and, and it's really nice. And then I have another agent who's doing a lot with the college planning, right. So he's, you know, doing a lot of the college planning using life insurance and some benefits of that. Is that, you know, it comparing against the 529? Yeah, the, the 529 plan.

Well, there's no comparison.

There's no comparison. Right.

It's not even.

You're not, you're not forced to get. Lose the money. You're not forced to pick it with school. You're not for like, there's still so many perks of it. So he's learning that process and with a lot of our products, you know, he's learning it. So he finally got one. He's like, wow, this is really, really good. You know, you know that moment when we like, oh, wow, this is.

Wait, what can I offer?

Yeah, this is really, really good.

The first time I saw it, you know, for the college specifically, because since I used to be a teacher, I was like, oh, my goodness. So I'm like calling all of my previous college counselors, like, did you know about this? Let me help all your students. I mean, it's like there's, it's like it can change a kid's entire college trajectory.

Even think about us, can you imagine if we would have had just 100 bucks a month, 100 bucks a month when we were in grade school to when we became out and became, you know, how many my sons in college now, they call for everything. I mean, everything. It doesn't stop. The only lucky thing is the school. We pay a meal plan and they pay for. He got. He gets to choose if he wants to eat that food. But anyway, long story short, but yes, you know, and I had one. And guys, even if it's later in life and your child is already like in middle school, high school, you can still start one because trust you me, it's going to help them. So these prepaid college plans are awesome. The children whole lives. And we've been really protecting a lot of children. Like, we don't, we don't miss out on that covering because you never worse come to worse, you never want to have an uninsured child. And we just ask them, will you be financially responsible? Like if, lord forbid, something happens to your grandchild, would your daughter or son come to you to ask you to put money together for the final expenses? And if the answer is yes, if they're going to come to You. You're financially involved, is it worth having five or ten dollars a month coming out your bank account to make sure that the children are covered so that you can say, hey, I'm paying for everything because I put this to the side, so.

Wow.

Most grandparents say yes or parents say, yeah.

Yeah, that is powerful, man. Tell them to keep it up. Tell them to tell your agents, keep it up.

Oh, yeah.

They're making a difference.

Yes, for sure.

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Let's hear it. Let's see it.

Okay. Let's see if I can manage. Let's see if I can manage. Manage the. The screen share, as always. All right, here we go.

Did we say the first one was alleged? Was it alleged? No, he got locked up.

No, he was charged. He was charged. Okay, here we go.

Live from the local station, new for Jax starts now.

This former Bernard beach insurance agent is locked up in jail, charged with fraud, accused of bilking an insurance company out of thousands of dollars. James Jones wrote $5 million worth of bogus life insurance policies.

An investigation revealed he used the identities of nine clients to do it. News4Jacks reporter Jim Pickett has been looking into this. He's joining us live. Jim, are those clients out any money? At this point? What we're finding out is no. But that could be the case down the line because their identity, at least it's been threatened at this point. And that is the problem here. Now, what we do know is that Jones was involved in this. What he did was stole the identity of these nine people to use it to ride out phony insurance, life insurance policies. He's currently being held here at the Duval County Jail, and this investigation is underway. Apparently, investigators have been looking for more than a year for James Jones, who also goes by Jake. The Florida Department of Insurance got wind of what was happening and began their investigations. Jones had worked for an allstate agent in St. John's county for a short time and according to investigators, was able to pull personal information from nine people. Enough information to write nine life insurance policies worth over $5 million for another company, Transamerica. In doing so, investigators say he was able to collect $38,000 in commissions. The nine victims in this case are from all over Florida and one in Texas. Investigators say they were not taken for any money, but some are worried about how their identity was stolen, and they're taking precautions to protect themselves. This afternoon, we heard from Florida's chief financial officer about this case. Jimmy Petronas says stealing someone's identity to make a buck off a fraudulent life insurance policy is shameful. He went on to say Florida is a top state for identity fraud.

And.

And we will do everything possible to protect your information. He says this type of case also impacts all Floridians by driving up the cost of insurance rates. And just a few minutes ago, I heard back from email from all state insurance, and they're saying that once they heard about Jones and what had happened on here, he was terminated. And he also. They also say they are cooperating with police. We're live at the jail. Jim Pickett, Channel 4 or the local station. Wow.

Three shocking reasons why butter belongs on your ice cream.

The reason butter is called.

I don't know what that's about. Wow. Wowzer. Betsy, from the top. What?

And that's a lot in there. This is very. This is a different format. I'm like, okay. Whoa. Okay, should we listen to it again? Okay, here we go. Let's. Let's take it from. Let's take it from the top here. Up in jail. Charged with fraud. Accused of bilking an insurance company out of thousands of dollars. James Jones wrote $5 million worth of bogus life insurance policies.

An investigation revealed he used the identities of nine clients to do it. News for Jackson. Reporter Jim Pickett has been looking into this. He's joining us live. Jim, are those clients out any money at this point? What we're finding out is no, but that could be the case down the line because their identity, at least it's been threatened at this point. And that is the problem here.

Yeah, that's what's so scary.

That is scary because. Yeah, yeah. Like, that's crazy.

What happens to their identities?

And then how do you know that? I don't want to know how. Why, like, for $38,000 now, you have a felony when you could have just probably called them an offer. Life insurance direct.

Now, what we do know is that Jones was involved in this. What he did Was stole the identity of these nine people to use it to. To ride out phony insurance, life insurance policies. He's currently being held here at the Duval County Jail, and this investigation is underway. Apparently, investigators have been looking for more than a year for James Jones.

So if they were looking for him, does that mean he was on the run?

They didn't find them.

They found him.

The Department of Insurance got wind of what was happening and began time. And according to investigators, was able to pull personal information from nine people. Enough information to write nine life insurance policies worth over $5 million for another company, Transamerica. In doing so, investigators say he was able to collect $38,000 in commissions.

38,000.

That's crazy. To. I don't even understand.

Wow, you're doing all this for 38,000.

38,000, which you could have done. I mean, in a month. I mean, you could have done in a week. We see people do this in a week.

Yeah. And how he's trying to use and play these, like, different carriers off of each other. It's like, that's.

Good job St. John.

The nine victims in this case are from all over Florida and one in Texas. Investigators say they were not taken for any money. This afternoon, we heard from Florida's chief financial officer about this case. Jimmy Petronis says stealing someone's identity to make a buck off of fraudulent life insurance defraud. And we will do everything possible to protect your information. He says this type of case also impacts all Floridians, who. By driving up the cost of insurance rates.

That's a big problem, too, here.

Yeah.

And just a few minutes ago, I heard back from email from Allstate Insurance, and they're saying that once they heard about Jones and what had happened on here, he was terminated. And he also. They also say they are cooperating with police. We're live at the jail. Jim Picket, Channel four.

Yeah, that's good, man. That's. I'm glad nobody was out of money. But it is fearful to know that a stranger can just go take your identity and get life insurance to get paid a commission. If you're waking up every day dreading your job, stuck in meetings that don't matter, making money for someone else. Maybe it's time for a reset. At Spencer Financial Group, we help people break out of the nine to five grind and start earning what they're actually worth. No balls, no ceiling. Just a proven system, real leads, and the freedom to build your schedule around your life, not the other way around. If you're ready for something different, go to www.thespencerfinancialgroup.com and check it out. It might change just every. Everything.

Well, Javon, let's. I've got some pretty cool stuff going on in.

Yeah, what's going on in the bar? Yeah, of course. Of course. I get to. Lovely here. Lovely things from the bar agency. The Aloha program in full effect, Al.

It is in. It is in full effect, Javon, which is crazy. Okay, so I got it. I got to tell you, this happened this week, and honestly, it, like, it made me.

It.

It made me cry. Okay. I'm just going to be honest. It was, like, emotional, and I was like, it's really happening. So, you know, one of the main things that we really wanted to do with the Aloha program was make it to where when agents come into the agency, there is. There is just streamlined, and it's easy for them to come in, be onboarded, know exactly what to do, come in. There's like, a training onboarding room, and, like, just, you know, just, like, have consistency and for people to not feel like they're just scrambling and drowning. Right. And so then at the end of that, before they get started, they meet with me for what we call the business launch. Okay? So this week, I had four business launches, which means there were four agents that were, like, you know, started getting leads, getting started, like, actually working. And. And they all said, like, wow, Betsy, we loved coming in. And just the training. Your. Your staff was just, like, so helpful in helping us know what to do. The videos were there. Like, we want to bring on our. That had one agent that had been working with the previous company said, I've got all these team members, and I want to bring them on because I've gone through this process, and I'm so excited for them to be a part of this training and come in and join the program. And it's like, Javon, like, that's what we. That's, like, what I work so hard to do, you know, like, that is where the hours and hours and late nights and put. Doing the trainings and pulling things together and all of that and organizing it all online, like, for that to all come together and then for agents to just tell me that, like, I wasn't asking that. I was just saying, like, hey, how's it been going for you? And for them to say that, like, it literally made me cry because I was like, it worked. Like, all of this. It was not in vain. Like, it was not in vain. And, you know, it was just, it was very, it was very rewarding. It was very fulfilling. Just to be like, okay, wow. Agents are really having the positive experience that I just, I was praying for, I was working for. And not only that, like, they, they feel so excited about it and about the opportunity. They're seeing other people win and they're just like, ready to get in with the leads and start helping families and they're bringing on other people. Like, that's the goal. That's the vision of like, how many people, how many families can we protect, but how many agents lives can we truly change with. With the Aloha program? And I know with what you have with the Spencer agency and Take Flight, like, it's just this opportunity that I wish I could have had and now being able to provide that for someone else, it's just, it's just so rewarding. It's so fulfilling. And man, like, I just, I was so excited this week. Like, I walked out of my office, my family was there, they were all working and I was just crying. And my husband.

I have yet to walk out the office crying. But I do know the feeling.

Yes, Well, I am emotional. But anyway, so that was, that was just really great to see agents come on and be like, you know, because usually in the business launch, I'm like, okay, you know, let's get you started. And then, you know, we can move towards, you know, building maybe in a month or so. And I had two of the ages this week be like, no, Betsy, I'm ready to start now. I've got these people that want to come on, can I, can I start now? And I was like, of course you can. I'm not going to stop you. I just don't want to overwhelm you. So, yeah, it's just awesome to see agents coming here, Agents winning, families being protected. It's like full circle. This is what we've been working for and just love seeing it all come together. That's pretty awesome.

Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Awesome. Well, I'll share. It's crazy. We have five new people this month that came out the gate swinging with leads and buying leads and selling on leads, which is a lot different than having, you know, five agents write business on themselves. So, you know, they're. Now I can hear. It's so funny because I'm so the one that is like looking forward vision, but now I'm like, how much have you learned? Right? Because they're like in her second, third week. And I'm like, you're not the same agent that you were when you first started. And think about it. Look at it, you know, and with the Take flight program, we're compacting so much training inside a short period of time. And they're hitting, they're like swinging at the bat, swinging at the ball so many more times in a week than your average agent because they're having all these presentations. You know, they have. You know, back in the day, it would took how long for us to have 10 sits, right?

Oh, my God.

And now they're having 10 sits in a week and making mistakes, but fumbling through it and making money while they're making mistakes. And then I'm like, hey, relax, Calm down. You're not going to be on the top of the leaderboards with me quite yet. But look how far you've come. Like, you got a deposit, you got paid, and it's just addictive. And you're right now the culture is changing. You got folks, like, looking like, like on other people's paper. Like that one's doing like. And it's all same system, same CRM, same everything. Had one of my agents go for a hat trick. He went from no sales to now trying to do three in a day. I was like, boom, boom, boom.

He's like, I love it.

You know, so, Betsy, we created something pretty amazing, I should say. I should say crazy.

How did this happen?

And, like, you're right. The gratitude for not keeping it to ourselves and allowing us to figure out a way to pour back into our agents is awesome. So, yeah. Well, I think we're down for our final fraud case. Final one. The final one for this episode.

All right, let's see. And we'll, as always, going to leave you hanging. So you got to come back next week and see what happens. All right, here we go. Let's pull it up. Insurance agent who pleaded guilty to scamming senior citizens here, here locally out of $10 million just learned he will spend the next nine years behind bars. Teenage reporter Mimi Aloha was at the courthouse downtown as he learned his sentence.

All right. Oh, my goodness. That just came out of the. That just came out of the cannon.

Wow.

Wow.

So join us next week and we'll find out all of the gory details. So we are Betsy and Javon signing out for fraud, facts and life insurance with agent verified.

Peace.

Bye. Thanks for listening to fraud, facts and life insurance with agent verified. If this episode made you double check your pocket 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.

It.