Engineering Firm Chief Guilty of Scamming Quake Victims
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LOS ANGELES — The president of an engineering firm that performed work for Allstate Insurance Co. after the 1994 Northridge earthquake was convicted by a federal jury Friday on 26 counts of fraud, money laundering and misappropriating insurance funds.
LeAndre Drake Davis, 36, of San Jose was hired by Allstate to assist the company in adjusting claims by policyholders.
Federal prosecutors charged that Davis’ reports contained false and misleading information, and that some were prepared without making any inspections of the policyholders’ properties.
The jury also watched a portion of an interview broadcast on the ABC-TV program “20/20” in which Davis admitted that he falsely represented himself to be a licensed architect on inspection reports.
Also testifying in the trial was a South-Central Los Angeles woman who said she paid Davis $10,000 to repair her home, and that when she refused his demand for more money, he demolished the house.
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