Insurance Fraud's New Poster Child: Joey Buttafuoco

This week, Mr. Buttafuoco, who now owns an auto-body shop in California, pleaded innocent to charges filed in an auto-insurance scam. Mr. Buttafuoco, 47, was arrested last month in a sting operation that also led to charges against 10 other workers at various auto-repair shops in Southern California.

Prosecutors involved in the case have alleged that Mr. Buttafuoco told undercover investigators how to file fake insurance claims for undamaged cars.

James Quiggle, spokesman for Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, based in Washington, D.C., said Mr. Buttafuoco is "the most visible suspect in a large and growing problem with body-repair-shop fraud that's been spreading tentacles throughout major portions of California.

This problem is costing insurers and their policyholders millions a year," Mr. Quiggle told National Underwriter. "Amy Fisher is now the least of Joey Buttafuoco's problems."

He observed that body-repair shops are one of the hidden but virulent fraud problems that insurance companies are only now trying to tackle. The dragnet that seized Mr. Buttafuoco, while an important one, is only the first step in what will need to be a long-term campaign to uproot a deep-seated problem, Mr. Quiggle said.

"This bust will definitely draw more public attention to the problem of repair-shop fraud," Mr. Quiggle commented. "This will hopefully help focus more investigative resources toward uprooting scams."