Rhode Island Horse Insurer Gets Three Years in Prison for $1.3M Fraud Scheme

[RxCate]

"A Rhode Island insurance agent who specializes in insuring horses has been sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding clients, insurance companies and finance companies out of $1.3 million.

Federal prosecutors say 57-year-old Randall Levesque, of Middletown, was also sentenced Monday to two years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution.

Levesque pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud.

Authorities say Levesque, owner of Equine Insurance Services LLC, overbilled and double-billed customers’ credit cards for premiums due on policies, some of which the client did not request or did not agree to finance, sometimes forging clients’ signatures.

He also collected premiums from customers, but did not forward the payments to the insurance companies; and fraudulently obtained more than $500,000 in financed premiums from at least two finance companies. "

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2019/03/14/520611.htm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[clanter]

well, even though he has said he will make amends he is playing the abuse card…

Levesque had overcome a traumatic childhood marked by severe abuse to become a successful businessman. Levesque also regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings

but

“even after he was caught, his business dissolved, his license surrendered, and the criminal investigation begun, he once again attempted to sell insurance apparently without a license.”

He wrote the judge

that he has “wrestled with guilt and remorse constantly. What could I have done to prevent the decisions I made? How could I have destroyed a business that ended the poverty in my family? How could I have destroyed a successful business that I built from one client up to thousands? … Currently, I am employed as an over the road truck driver in the same equestrian community. I make amends to former clients on a daily basis.”

Levesque remains free until his self-surrender date of April 30, records show.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/11/horse-insurance-broker-gets-year-prison-term-for-stealing-million/Uivz8IjzLfe5J3bbc3vdBM/story.html

my guess we have not heard the last of him