Greg B

Friday, September 10, 2004

2 admit to swindling $1.1 million with fake insurance premiums
Ulster chamber paid out $50,000
By Yancey Roy
Journal Albany bureau

ALBANY -- Two officials of a phony insurance company pleaded guilty Thursday to swindling more than a million dollars from unwitting customers throughout the Hudson Valley while not providing any actual coverage.
Preferred Dental Care was never a licensed insurance business and never had plans to pay insurance claims. Company officials conspired with a dentist to find technical ways to deny claims.

They used fake names while pretending to be customer-service representatives who assured clients their claims were still under review. And eventually, the company reinvented itself and changed names to throw irate customers off-track.

Josephine Giaquinto and Ivan Westbrook pleaded guilty to ''enterprise corruption'' to cover crimes across eight New York counties, including Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam and Rockland. They could get a maximum sentence of five to 15 years under a plea bargain -- they had faced a maximum of up to 25 years -- when they are sentenced in November.

Investigation in N.J. also

In addition, they are under FBI investigation in New Jersey where the company was headquartered and the officers reside.

Investigators said the company also sold insurance in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The president of the company, Leonard Friscia, is expected to strike a similar plea in Albany later this month, prosecutors said.

From 2001 to 2003, the companies fed on individuals, small businesses and chambers of commerce. More than 400 clients had paid the company in excess of $1.1 million in insurance premiums. Among those were the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce (more than $50,000 in premiums) and More Buying Power, a Fishkill company ($3,000).

''The entire project was set up with the intent of fleecing'' customers, Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne said.

The company only paid claims to stave off certain clients, he said.

Westbrook, 33, admitted putting clients on hold on the telephone, then picking up, identifying himself as ''Tom Turner'' and telling them their claims were ''in the system'' and ''being reviewed.'' Giaquinto, 37, did the same, identifying herself as ''Maria.''

Giaquinto, the company operations director, kept her composure and answered ''yes'' to dozens of questions outlining the scheme during the two-hour proceeding in a muggy Albany County courthouse.

It became so routine that in one instance she answered before Judge Joseph Teresi completed his question. She wept silently after finishing and returning to her seat.

Westbrook, the company vice president, mopped his brow frequently as he explained how the company reinvented itself as Advanced Benefit Solutions to keep irate customers off-track. The two left the court without commenting. They are free on $15,000 bail.

District attorneys from eight counties worked with the U.S. Postal Service and the New York State Insurance Department to bring the case to Albany, officials said.

Prosecutors would not comment on possible charges against the dentist, identified as Ronald Shaw of Bronx County. Shaw was also a stockholder in the company, Giaquinto said. Any of the company officials could be held individually responsible for paying customers back the $1.1 million.

BlueQuartz

xdcdave

I hope they burn.

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