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ZIFL - Volume 25, Number 23  

The full .pdf version is available here.   

Admitted Crop Insurance Fraud Perpetrator Tries to ZIFL-12-01-2021

Limit  Restitution Crooked Farmer Goes to Jail and Must Pay $2.5 Million in Restitution  Defendant Ronnie Jolly pleaded guilty to crop insurance fraud, money  laundering, and conspiring to defraud the United States and to commit  mail or wire fraud. The Government sought restitution of monies paid by  the crop insurance program and Jolly moved to avoid or limit the orders  of restitution. 

 In United States of America v. Ronnie Jolly, CRIMINAL No. 5:18-32-KKC,  United States District Court, E.D. Kentucky, Central Division, Lexington  (November 1, 2021) the court dealt with the restitution order.  

ZIFL OPINION  Insurance criminals have no shame. After admitting the extensive nature  of his fraud Jolly had the unmitigated gall to try to limit, or  eliminate, the restitution ordered. He succeeded in limiting what was to  be paid to the private insurer to only indemnity payments and failed on  his obligation to repay the crop insurance program he admittedly  defrauded. The government should take all of Jolly\\u2019s assets up to the  amount he stole and he should be required to spend all of the time  ordered in the grey-bar-hotel.  

Pyrrhic Victory \\u2013 Partial Win Makes Conviction for Insurance Fraud  Easier Since Insurance Fraud is a Felony Charging Misdemeanors Wasteful

Following a preliminary hearing, Sanjoy Banerjee, a physician, was  charged with two counts of presenting a false or fraudulent health care  claim to an insurer, a form of insurance fraud and three counts of  perjury. The superior court denied Banerjee\\u2019s motion to dismiss the  information as unsupported by reasonable or probable cause and he sought  a writ of prohibition to eliminate the charges. In Sanjoy Banerjee v.  The Superior Court of Riverside County, The People, Real Party in  Interest, E076291, California Court of Appeals, Fourth District, Second  Division (October 5, 2021) the Court of Appeals prohibited the perjury  counts and allowed the insurance fraud charges to go forward.  INTRODUCTION  ZIFL OPINION  The crime of insurance fraud is a simple, direct, crime to prove. If a  fraudulent bill is sent to an insurance company the crime may be proved.  Since the evidence showed that by using the two additional entities  Banerjee was able to bill $9,000 more than if he billed it directly can  cause a jury to conclude he issued the bills with the intent to defraud  the insurer. The Court of Appeal, by eliminating the perjury charges  made the case simple, clean and direct instead of complicating the trial  with difficult to prove and less than clear statutes. Banerjee  succeeded partially, and in so doing, made it easier for the state to  convict him of insurance fraud.