Fraud of the week
Arson – Maryland
$15 million
A Baltimore man used adhesive tape to defeat security features on the door of his commercial building so that the person hired to start the fire could enter the premises. The business had taken a downturn and losses were nearing $2.9 million. After the fire, the insured removed the front doors to the building, blamed others in order to divert investigators, and hid or made unavailable hard disk drives and video footage of the scene. He received $15 million from the insurance carrier, half of which was used to purchase new equipment and restore the building and $600,000 went to an account in his wife's name, he purchased a $98,000 Mercedes-Benz GL 550, and $53,000 BMS and $35,000 in watches and jewelry. The federal prosecutors are seeking a twenty-two year prison term, while attorneys for the insured state than anything over the fifteen-year mandatory sentence guarantees that he will die in prison.

