Today’s post comes from respected colleague Jon Gelman from Jon Gelman, LLC – Attorney at Law in New Jersey. It is pretty common to hear about fraud when it comes to workers in workers’ compensation. But the fraud can also come from different cogs in the wheel of the workers’ compensation process, an issue that isn’t always covered as thoroughly unless it involves a lot of money, like this situation. This insurance company employee stole millions of dollars instead of buying insurance policies for “trucking, hauling, waste management, moving, and recycling businesses located in New Jersey and New York,” according to the post. So the insurance companies didn’t get their money, the businesses didn’t get their insurance policies, and this fraud violated the trust of the insurance broker itself. At the time of his original blog post, Mr. Gelman wrote that the prosecution anticipated the sentence would include jail.

NJ Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that an employee of a former Morris County insurance brokerage company pleaded guilty today to stealing several million dollars entrusted to her employer. These funds had been entrusted to the insurance brokerage for the purpose of purchasing insurance policies for small and medium-sized businesses in New Jersey and New York.

Kelly Roetto, 45, of Bedminster, pleaded guilty to an accusation charging her with second-degree theft by unlawful taking, second-degree issuing bad checks, and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official before Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morris County.

Judge Manahan scheduled sentencing for Dec. 19.Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Roetto be sentenced to nine years in state prison. In addition, Roetto will be ordered to pay restitution and will agree to never again obtain an insurance license in the State of New Jersey.

This defendant used her position of trust within this insurance brokerage firm to divert millions of dollars

“This defendant used her position of trust within this insurance brokerage firm to divert millions of dollars,” Attorney General Chiesa said. “My office will continue to work with the insurance industry to root out corrupt insurance brokers.”

“This crime attacked the integrity of our insurance system by Continue reading →