Yesterday federal authorities arrested a southern California insurance broker on federal mail fraud charges for allegedly bilking some high-profile clients out of hundreds of thousands over the course of about 13 years.

Tom Hanks and Andy Summers, former guitarist for the rock band “The Police,” are among the celebrity clients reportedly defrauded by 59-year-old Jerry B. Goldman.

After being arrested without incident at his Thousand Oaks, Calif. residence, Goldman was arraigned on a 10-count indictment in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The formal indictment lists a total of four victims, including Hanks and Summers. It also asserts that Goldman may have used his Newbury Park insurance agency to obtain various insurance products for clients, some of whom were overbilled by as much as 600 percent.

Authorities allege that Goldman negotiated premiums for insurance coverage on behalf of his clients, and he was paid commissions by the insurance provider on each policy. It is believed that he then created false invoices on his company's letterhead that inflated the premiums owed substantially. From 1998 through August 2011, Goldman received overpayments of more than $800,000, the indictment alleges.

Each of the 10 counts of mail fraud included in the indictment carry a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the case against Goldman, who reportedly ran for Thousand Oaks City Council in 2006.

Source: www.fbi.gov

Special Reports /

Broker Allegedly Swindled Tom Hanks, Other Celebs Out of $800K

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