Insurance Fraud Casebook: Paying a Premium for Crime

The Hazards of Doing Business with Friends

BILL MALONEY

Jack Fellows was a man who could fool anyone, even those closest to him. He was married with two children, but he had never been very savvy with his career moves and he had a checkered employment past. However, he hit the jackpot when his longtime friend, Phil Careselli, took it upon himself to help out his buddy.

Phil was also happily married and had three children, two of them in college. He was a successful business owner, and he wanted to use his position to help those he cared about. When he was just out college, Phil was hired as a claims processor for a large, well-respected insurance company in the Midwest. He put in five years with the company, earning promotions and gaining valuable insight into the insurance business. Shortly after he got married, he took another big plunge and opened his own company, Careselli Insurance Agency. He started in a small office with one assistant. Over time, Phil's hard work and dedication grew the company to five branches in several cities. His flagship office employed 12 people, and each regional office had four to five staff members. The company offered a range of insurance products, but its main trade was in policies for other business enterprises.

While Phil enjoyed professional success, he watched his close friend Jack struggle to hold down a series of sales jobs and listened to ...