Yesterday federal authorities arrested a southern Californiainsurance broker on federal mail fraud charges for allegedlybilking some high-profile clients out of hundreds of thousands overthe course of about 13 years.

Tom Hanks and Andy Summers, former guitarist for the rock band“The Police,” are among the celebrity clients reportedly defraudedby 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 inU.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The formal indictment lists atotal of four victims, including Hanks and Summers. It also assertsthat Goldman may have used his Newbury Park insurance agency toobtain various insurance products for clients, some of whom wereoverbilled by as much as 600 percent.

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

Each of the 10 counts of mail fraud included in theindictment carry a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federalprison.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the caseagainst Goldman, who reportedly ran for Thousand Oaks City Councilin 2006.

Source: www.fbi.gov