A married couple from New Bedford, Massachusetts pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to a scheme to defraud insurance clients through their business, BL Insurance Brokerage, LLC.
According to U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley, Brendan and Lisa Lawler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Lawlers were charged by criminal complaint .
According to court documents, from March 2023 through March 2024, the Lawlers solicited and collected insurance payments from BL Insurance’s clients, which should have been paid to the clients’ insurance providers. Instead of paying the insurance companies, the Lawlers pocketed their clients’ payments and used the money for their own purposes.
Federal prosecutors said that the Lawlers defrauded at least 50 individuals or insurance providers. Court documents claim that the Lawlers stole at least $462,247.89 from insurance providers and premium finance companies, and at least $307,486.33 from lenders.
Prosecutors said that to conceal this theft of client funds and to keep their BL Insurance afloat, the Lawlers used incoming client funds to pay outstanding balances due to other clients’ insurers. They also created and distributed false certificates of insurance to clients that falsely suggested that the clients were insured.
Prosecutors maintain that when clients discovered that they did not have the coverage they had paid for, the Lawlers made excuses to conceal the scheme. In addition to the false certificates of insurance, they also sent clients images of mail tracking numbers, receipts, and checks that they falsely claimed showed payments that they had mailed or made.
Sometimes, prosecutors maintain, the Lawlers refunded complaining clients or belatedly paid for the clients’ coverage, often using another client’s insurance payment to do so.
According to an affidavit, the victims included an insurance brokerage in Daytona Beach, Florida that obtained insurance coverage for its clients and insurance customers who operated law offices in New Bedford and East Boston.
On its website, BL Insurance had identified itself as a full-service insurance brokerage based in Fairhaven that was licensed in several states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, and Connecticut. BL Insurance purported to offer professional liability, general liability, commercial property, financial products, and personal insurance.
Topics Agencies Massachusetts
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