Illinois Farmers Insurance Company has filed a five-count complaint against two Chicago area contractors -- ACME Home General Contractors, Inc., and Evergreen Home Restoration, Inc. -- and against several individuals alleging insurance fraud and conspiracy to the tune of $650,000.
According to a release from the company, Farmers initiated an investigation in late 2008 after noticing a pattern of fraudulent hail claims. In the civil complaint, Farmers alleges that the named defendants were causing hail-like damage to insured homes and then filing false insurance claims.
The Illinois criminal code states that a person commits insurance fraud when "he or she knowingly obtains, attempts to obtain, or causes to be obtained, by deception, control over the property of an insurance company or self-insured entity by the making of a false claim or by causing a false claim to be made on any policy of insurance issued by an insurance company or by the making of a false claim to a self-insured entity, intending to deprive an insurance company or self-insured entity permanently of the use and benefit of that property."
Violations of this code in which the value of the property obtained or attempted to be obtained is more than $100,000 is a Class 1 felony, which carry between four and 15 years in jail and/or a fine of up to $25,000 plus restitution.
