A Maryland couple has been sentenced to 12 and 4 years in prison, respectively, following their convictions for orchestrating a $20 million insurance fraud scheme.
In addition to their prison terms, a Maryland district judge ordered the couple to serve three years of supervised release and pay roughly $16 million in restitution to the victims of their insurance fraud scheme, along with $2.7 million to the United States. The court also ordered the Wilsons to forfeit approximately $14.8 million in seized assets.
Court documents reveal that James and Maureen Wilson, of Owings Mills, orchestrated a scheme to defraud insurance companies by securing over 40 life insurance policies through false representations of the applicants’ health, financial status, and existing coverage. The total death benefits from these policies surpassed $20 million.
Prosecutors also stated that the couple conspired to defraud individual investors, using the funds obtained to pay premiums on fraudulently acquired life insurance policies.
To conceal their scheme, the Wilsons funneled proceeds from the fraud through numerous bank accounts, including those held in the names of various trusts. They also filed false individual income tax returns for 2018 and 2019, failing to report or pay taxes on approximately $5.7 million and $2 million in illicit income, respectively.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, with support from the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
