Insurance Fraud Casebook: Paying a Premium for Crime

All the Buzz

DALENE BARTHOLOMEW

Georgia Getty was a 58-year-old wife and mother who enjoyed music and spending time with her family, and she was especially close with her youngest daughter. Some of her family members were in a band, and Georgia liked to attend their concerts and listen to them play. Georgia was known for her exceptionally long hair and her long, perfectly manicured and brightly colored fingernails. She had worked for Buzz Agency in the neighboring city for more than 15 years, providing data entry and basic accounting support.

Buzz Agency was the parent company of Buzz Magazine, a weekly publication that started more than 100 years ago. It had a great reputation for providing local and world news coverage as well as fun, smart and interesting stories. The company was also known as an excellent employer and provided staff with generous wages and benefits, including disability insurance coverage. Unfortunately, the challenges of the economy had taken their toll, as had competition with online news sources. The magazine suffered a decline in advertising and readership. Although the agency was able to remain current and competitive by creating an online forum and other innovative ideas, management had to reduce overhead, which included making some very tough decisions for the best interests of the company overall. As a result, it was common knowledge that the Buzz Agency ...