In our firm’s continuing effort to combat automobile insurance fraud, I’ve recently had the opportunity to depose several sophisticated criminals who had the contacts and knowledge to pull off major staged accident schemes. These “kingpin runners,” as they are called, provided GLG with a complete roadmap of their schemes – from recruiting crash “victims” and staging accidents, to targeting and collecting from passive insurance companies.
For more than two decades, I’ve focused my practice on PIP fraud but even I was astonished by the breadth of detail the kingpin runners shared. These are not ordinary criminals. They’re organized and proactive, with the ability to run sophisticated operations from start to finish. In layman’s terms, the kingpin runner is the ultimate project director. Their responsibilities included:
- Finding, vetting and negotiating with all participants involved in the scheme;
- Organizing educational sessions, sometimes at a local hotel, detailing how to stage accidents;
- Practicing and role playing what to do before, during and after the crash;
- Analyzing insurance carriers and determining which to target based on whether they actively fight fraud;
- Identifying fraudulent clinics and working with the clinic owners;
- Overseeing the paper trail from the initial police report to the insurance payout;
- And handling and distributing all the money
We know staged auto accidents already cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. Our recent depositions reinforced my belief that this issue will continue to grow. Fortunately, the kingpin runners we deposed are behind bars, but there are numerous others already taking their places.
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