Scheme Victimized and Left Small Business Clients Uninsured, Stole Nearly $300,000 From Five Local Businesses
BOSTON — The CEO and President of a Taunton-based insurance agency pleaded guilty in connection with an embezzlement scheme that left client companies uninsured, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.
David G. Pietro, age 67, of Sandwich, and his company, DGP-Miles Insurance Agency, of Taunton, have each pleaded guilty in Bristol Superior Court to five felony counts of Larceny by Embezzlement. Following the guilty pleas, Judge Daniel O’Shea sentenced Pietro to two years of probation, ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service, and ordered him to pay restitution to the victims in an amount to be determined. The judge also ordered DGP to surrender its business entity insurance license, effectively barring the company from continuing to operate as an insurance agency or producer in the industry.
“Insurance fraud and embezzlement damage the integrity of the insurance system and can seriously impact those involved,” AG Healey said. “We’re glad that this defendant has been ordered to pay restitution to the clients, many of them small businesses, that his scheme defrauded and left uninsured. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who commit fraud and theft.”
Pietro, a licensed insurance producer and broker, collected insurance premiums from commercial clients through DGP, but repeatedly failed to remit those premium payments to his clients’ insurance carriers, as they had entrusted him to do. Instead, he misled his clients as he used their money to pay for his own business and personal expenses. As a result of the embezzlement scheme, several client companies had various commercial insurance policies cancelled and were left uninsured, as well as uncompensated for the premium payments they had entrusted to DGP.
In total, Pietro and DGP stole $295,278 in insurance premiums from five commercial clients, mostly small businesses.
If any member of the public believes they may have been victimized by this conduct or has any information relating to others who may have been victimized, they are encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Office Insurance Fraud Tip Line at 617-573-5330.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Jared Cohen and Christopher O’Brien of AG Healey’s Criminal Bureau and Insurance & Unemployment Fraud Division, with assistance from Criminal Investigator Lashauna Craig, Victim Witness Advocate Megan Murphy, and from Massachusetts State Police assigned to the AG’s Office as well as from investigators at the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau.
Source: Mass.gov®
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