Lawyer Held in Car Crash Fraud Ring (bible study group)

[UpInArms]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crash24nov24,0,939351.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews

A lawyer recruited 29 people, including some from a Bible study class, to stage more than 60 automobile crashes on Los Angeles freeways and collected millions of dollars in bogus insurance claims, authorities said Wednesday.

Personal injury lawyer Bernard Laufer, 52, of Huntington Park was arrested Tuesday morning at his office on suspicion of leading the ring, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said.

<snip>

"This is extraordinarily important to every citizen who's on the freeways," Garamendi said. "Purposely stopping a car on a freeway can lead to death. These schemes are dangerous, they are reckless and they are deadly."

The ring operated for at least 18 months, targeting sport utility vehicles and commercial trucks on several Southland freeways, including the 101, 60, 10 and the 15, authorities said.

<snip>

Among those involved were members of a Bible study group from the Inland Empire, said Marty Gonzales, chief investigator for the California Department of Insurance.

...more...

[NMDemDist2]

1. hmmm... isn't FR located in the "Inland Empire" ??? just saying,....

[Binka]

4. FR Is Located In Fresno This Article Is About The LA Inland Area So Cal

[VegasWolf]

15. FR is located in Fresno??? Boy, that explains everything. nt

[fasttense]

2. I guess since they are in a bible study group it is ok for them to

lie and cheat.

[MindPilot]

6. It's a Christian's god-given right to be rich

even if you have to steal it.

There is no punishment horrible enough for the fuckers who do this kind of shit. They prey on the poor and ignorant while risking lives and stealing from everyone.

My dad was an insurance adjuster who frequently had to handle these kinds of fraud cases. He had some absolutely gut-wrenching stories.

[meow2u3]

3. Fraud is a conservative Christian value

So is every other white-collar crime you can think of.

[WePurrsevere]

5. What part of "Thou Shalt Not STEAL"... "Do Unto Others..." did this bunch

miss or were they studying a wildly different Bible then I have? This is NOT what Jesus taught. He did not mean to give his followers a "Get out of jail free" ticket so they could deliberately screw folks over... morans.

[MindPilot]

7. To be fair the bible-study people are as much victims as the

people who get stuck defending themselves in a rear-end collision. They're gullible--they've already bought into whatever the preacher is selling--so they could easily fall for a get rich quick scheme.

[WePurrsevere]

11. Normally I try to see & understand things from different angles but...

"Victims"? Perhaps a "victim" of their own greed and/or "the world owes me" mentality.

These people deliberately went out of their way to cause an accident with the intention of bilking money from insurance companies. I don't see how someone trying to defend a truly accidental rear ending of another car compares to going out of ones way to delibrately cause an accident in the hopes you'll get insurance money. How could anyone with any sense at all think that is somehow acceptable? Would they want to be the one they "hurt"? What if one of these accidents went too far and someone was maimed for life or killed?

[MindPilot]

14. Of course I don't think "deliberately causing an accident is acceptable"

My point is that there are several levels of crime happening here. First is the con man, the lawyer who convinces the illegals that piling in a car and causing an accident is a good way to score some quick cash. Those individuals are now victims of the con. Of course they are not real bright if they fall for it, but fall for it they do, and go out and risk their lives and of course the lives of the second set of victims who are unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now comes the lawyers, doctors, and chiropractors who falsify medical records and coach claimants how to fake their way through the insurance companies' medical exams.

Then the third set of victims--the rest of us--who pay higher insurance rates for less coverage.

No, I am not condoning insurance fraud in any way. I'm saying most of the people who are involved in this kind of fraud don't think it up on their own and go and do it, they are recruited and coached by con artists who convince people who are poor, desperate and ignorant that causing a crash and faking an injury is workable solution to their financial woes.

[waywest]

12. Well, I would call that "Charitable" not "fair"

I see your point, though.

[Rich Hunt]

8. my goodness

This isn't just 'fraud' - it's endangering people's lives.

[Selteri]

13. THese people are scum period - Send them to jail!

I've beena victim of a distract and stick accident scam. The people who cause accidents for the idea of bilking and screwing people are the same as the people who take the social security money from little old ladies. These people are leaches upon society and they are one of the reasons the insurance comanies bilk us for so much money.

[leftofthedial]

9. puh-raize gawd!

and tithe your settlement

[Citrene]

10. It's the "prosperity" bunch running AMOK!

Give your 10% and God will give you back 10 times? I remember hearing many times "God doesn't want you to be poor". Kenneth Copeland and his wife come to mind.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi Citrene!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Voltaire99]

16. Crashtianity.

Coming to an intersection near you.