Ten individuals have been charged in New York with participatingin and coordinating a series of staged motor vehicle accidents, aswell as falsifying their involvement in other vehicular incidents,to fraudulently collect insurance payouts. The defendants werecharged in multiple indictments in N.Y. State Supreme Court withinsurance fraud in the third and fourth degrees and falsifyingbusiness records in the first degree.

According to the indictment and statements made on the record incourt, the defendants were charged with orchestrating andparticipating in a series of staged accidents and vehicularcollisions involving “jump-ins,” in which the defendants claimed tobe inside affected vehicles in order to fraudulently obtain medicalbenefits and insurance payouts.

In New York State, a person injured in a motor vehicle accidentis automatically covered by the Comprehensive Motor VehicleInsurance Reparations Act, commonly known as the No-Fault Law.No-Fault insurance carriers are required to provide up to $50,000in individual reimbursements for a wide range of medical and healthservices for injuries incurred as a result of car accidents. Inaddition to medical coverage, victims of motor vehicle accidentsalso may be eligible to recover money from an insurance carrier forbodily injury lawsuits stemming from incurred injuries.