TRENTON
- Attorney General Peter C. Harvey announced
that a former Morris County insurance
agent has been sentenced to state prison
for stealing more than $800,000 in insurance
premium financing monies from small business
clients who were then left without insurance.
According to Vaughn L. McKoy, Director,
Division of Criminal Justice and Greta
Gooden Brown, Insurance Fraud Prosecutor,
Harry DelBosco, 49, Brockden Drive, Mendham,
Morris County, was sentenced by Morris
County Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent
Ahto to five years in state prison and
ordered to pay $887,000 in restitution.
The case has been referred to the Department
of Banking and Insurance which will move
to permanently revoke DelBosco's license
to conduct insurance -related business
in New Jersey.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown
noted that DelBosco was a licensed insurance
agent and the former president of the
Garden State Brokers, Inc. insurance agency
located at 11 Eagle Rock Ave., East Hanover,
Morris County. Garden State Brokers was
an insurance agency that brokered insurance
premium financing loans to small businesses
in the trucking industry. DelBosco pleaded
guilty on Feb. 20 to a criminal Accusation
which charged theft by failure to make
required disposition of property received.
At the guilty plea hearing before Morris
County Superior Court Judge B. Theodore
Bozonelis, DelBosco admitted that he stole
at least $887,000 entrusted to him by
several premium finance companies, including
AFCO Credit Corp., First Insurance Funding
Corp. and AMGRO Premium Financing, Inc.
The funds were forwarded to Del Bosco's
insurance agency and were to be used to
finance insurance premiums on behalf of
DelBosco's commercial clients who had
purchased varying types of insurance through
Garden State Brokers. Instead of purchasing
the required insurance policies, Del Bosco
misappropriated and converted the funds
to his own use.
The investigation was conducted by the
Division of Criminal Justice - Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. State Investigator
Johnny Ho and Deputy Attorney General
Michael A. Monahan coordinated the investigation.
DAG Monahan represented the Division of
Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing hearing.
"This case involved not only the
theft of nearly $1 million in funds entrusted
to DelBosco in his capacity as an insurance
broker, but insurance fraud through phony
insurance premium loan transactions. Both
schemes were concocted for one purpose
- to satisfy DelBosco's greed," said
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown
noted that the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor realized a 143 percent increase
in indictments; a 91 percent increase
in defendants charged; a 79 percent increase
in convictions (trial convictions and
guilty pleas); and a 60 percent increase
in civil sanctions in 2002. The Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor charged
225 defendants in 2002, versus 118 defendants
in 2001. Additionally, the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor imposed sanctions in
3,723 civil fraud cases in 2002, compared
to 2,063 civil sanctions obtained in 2001.
The Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
collected $20.6 million in penalties in
2002, up from $15.8 million in 2001.
Noting that some important cases have
begun with anonymous tips from the public,
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Gooden Brown
encouraged anyone with information about
insurance fraud to contact the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor's toll-free hotline at
1-877-55-FRAUD, or to visit the
insurance fraud web site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org
.
Housed in the Department of Law and Public
Safety's Division of Criminal Justice
and reporting to the Attorney General,
the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
was established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998 (AICRA). The
Office is the centralized state agency
that investigates and prosecutes civil
and criminal insurance fraud, as well
as Medicaid fraud. Criminal convictions
for insurance fraud can result in fines
and imprisonment. Civil penalties can
include substantial fines and referral
for revocation or suspension of professional
licenses.
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