Historic Mansion Charred in Suspected Insurance Fraud Scheme

A burning home is a sad sight, made all the more devastating when a piece of history is swept away with it. From the ashes of a once regal country estate in Pennsylvania comes a lawsuit alleging insurance fraud, wire fraud, arson, and a staged theft.

The 53-page court document related to a home fire outside of Philly reads more like a screenplay than a lawsuit, complete with an interesting cast of characters: a mysterious so-called socialite from Montreal and her interior designer/business mogul boyfriend.

A Fairytale Ends
On April 4, 2012, 100 firefighters responded to a blaze at “Bloomfield,” Jerald Batoff's 24,000-square-foot property situated on seven acres. Located a mere mile from Villanova University, the 19-bedroom, 15-bath throwback to the Gilded Age epitomizes French Chateau style and is known for its Horace Trumbauer redesign and formal gardens, which were designed by the Olmstead Brothers. 

Over the years, various stakeholders painstakingly restored the mansion to its original beauty while outfitting the property with all the conveniences of modern life. 

Given all the care bestowed on Bloomfield, why would anyone want to tarnish its legacy ? The simple answer is greed, at least by Batoff's estimation.

On Nov. 29, more than seven months after the fire, Batoff filed a complaint alleging the Canadian couple Dean Topolinski and Julie Charbonneau, who had been occupying the property, hatched a plot to collect millions in insurance money.

The charges contained in the court document are elaborate. In it, the heartbroken homeowner condemns the duo who supposedly duped him, asserting they only pretended to want to buy the estate listed for $5.2 million. Batoff says Topolinski and Charbonneau instead strung him along with a $260,000 down payment, monthly lease checks, and other cash siphoned from a company on the verge of collapse. 

After numerous setbacks with a previously agreed upon settlement, the couple requested a long-term lease with an “intent to buy,” Batoff says. 

He goes on to accuse the former tenants of engaging in a “pattern of racketeering activity” dating back to over a year before the fire. Other allegations include wire fraud, insurance fraud, and a fake break-in at Topolinski's company, DGI Services, to collect insurance money. (The lawsuit asserts the break-in occurred on Nov. 13, a day before a scheduled lease signing.) 

When the lease was signed, it ostensibly gave the tenants a purported insurable interest under the option to purchase. 

The story, which is still unfolding, only gets more bizarre from there, including charges the couple dismissed groundskeepers and disabled the home's security system before the fire to “cover its tracks.” 

The fire marshal ruled the cause “undetermined,” and in May 2012, the renters filed an insurance claim and received $1.25 million in an advance payoff. The case took another turn in late October, as U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. issued a temporary restraining order freezing insurance proceeds Batoff had collected for the fire. While nothing is as it seems in this shady scenario, the adage “buyer beware” could apply to the seller.