Retired Agent Admits Role in $1.1-Million Insurance Fraud

A 68-year-old retired Los Angeles insurance agent Tuesday admitted his role in a $1.1-million scheme using phony death certificates to defraud the company that employed him for 30 years.

As part of a plea bargain, William Ekaireb pleaded guilty in federal court to five of the 15 felony counts filed against him and agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation of the scheme.

U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman scheduled Ekaireb’s sentencing for May 20 after informing him that he could face a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a $32,000 fine.

Three-Way Split

Ekaireb told the judge that he and another agent for United Insurance Co. of America each took 40% of the money earned in the scheme, with the person who provided the death certificates receiving the remaining 20%.

Ekaireb’s partner, Morris Levine, 60, of North Hollywood, earlier pleaded guilty and also is awaiting sentencing.

The identity of the person who supplied the fraudulent death certificates was not revealed during Tuesday’s court proceedings.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Patricia Collins said Ekaireb and Levine defrauded the company between 1982 and 1984 by paying premiums on death benefit policies they knew were lapsing and then using fraudulent death certificates to file claims on those policies.

Details of Scheme

Court documents revealed that the scheme was uncovered when a company official noticed “a peculiar coincidence” of names repeatedly appearing on claims processed at the firm’s Northridge offices. Further checking showed that claims had been filed on five children in the same family who supposedly had died of pneumonia at County-USC Medical Center during a 65-day period.