Fraud of the Week

August 24, 2015

Murder for Life Insurance—New York

AMOUNT: $3,769 paid out; potential $100,000

 

A New York man was found guilty of wire fraud, mail fraud, arson, possession of Molotov cocktails, maintaining a premises for drug trafficking, felony in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking in the murder of his fiancée. The wire fraud and mail fraud were due to his attempts to collect on insurance policies for the murder of his fiancée and arson of his apartment.

 

Seven weeks before the murder the man asked to be made sole beneficiary of his fiancée's $100,000 life insurance policy. The policy became effective three weeks before the murder. His fiancée was shot in the back of the head after being seen leaving a location at 11 p.m.; her body was found at 6 a.m. the next day on the side of the road. Four days after the murder, he filed a claim on the life insurance policy, which was not paid out.

 

A year after the murder the man obtained a renter's policy; one or two months later the man set fire to the vacant apartment next to his. When this only minimally damaged his apartment, he then set fire to his apartment two days later. He filed for coverage and received $3,769.