Seal Beach Man Guilty in Workers’ Comp Fraud Case

A Seal Beach man pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding the State Compensation Insurance Fund in what authorities described as one of the largest workers’ compensation fraud cases in recent state history.

Michael Marconi, 63, who had fled the country and was extradited from London, could be sentenced to 37 months in prison. He also agreed to pay $1.8 million in fines as part of his plea.

Marconi left the United States in 1993, a year after a grand jury indicted him on 18 counts of fraud related to several of his temporary employment services. Authorities said he intentionally underpaid premiums for workers’ compensation policies that he took out for his businesses.

Marconi’s bookkeeper, Shelley Jean Walsh, pleaded guilty last November to participating in the scheme and lying to a grand jury regarding destruction of evidence. The 38-year-old Long Beach woman served five months in federal prison and five months in a halfway house.

Under the scheme, fictitious names were used to register a fictitious business name to hide the involvement of Marconi and his staff, said Ronni B. MacLaren, assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. Whenever the state fund reviewed his operations, Marconi would shut down and establish a new operation under another name.

Marconi pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 21.