Someone Stole My Rolls Royce
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Investing in California real estate in the 1980’s was fun. Whatever you bought you could sell for more. The doctrine: “there is always a greater fool than I,” worked.
Li Chen Hua immigrated to California from Hong Kong in 1981. He did it legally, winning a lottery for a Green Card. He came to the U.S. with his savings (converted from Hong Kong dollars to diamonds for ease of transportation).
Li set himself up in a condominium on Wilshire Boulevard just west of the community known as Westwood and east of Beverly Hills. It only cost him $500,000. He bought three other condos in the same building that first year and paid his mortgages and living expenses from the rent he collected.
In 2008 the bottom fell out of the California real estate market. Mr. Li, found himself owning real estate mortgaged to over $14,000,000 but worth only $9,000,000. The rents he collected were not sufficient to pay the various mortgages and allow him to continue in the life style with to which he had become accustomed. He needed to make a great deal of money fast and then, leaving his mortgagees to fend for themselves, return to Hong Kong for a pleasant retirement.
Mr. Li’s cousin was the number one luxury car dealer in all of the People’s Republic of China. She had no competition, an almost unlimited supply of vehicles, and overhead limited to shipping costs. Li’s account at CitiBank, Hong Kong was growing. He put his savings in broad-based stock mutual funds specializing in high risk emerging markets. His investments doubled in two years.
Li decided it was time to stop while he was ahead. He would ship his pRoger Parsons, the claims supervisor at Massive and Stoney Insurance Company, looking out his window at the slow moving, brown Illinois River, was about to order a check for the settlement when he received a report from the NICB that the car had been shipped by Li to Hong Kong a month before the reported theft. Customs officials in Hong Kong reported the car arrived and was picked up by its consignee. The NICB had copies available of the shipping documents with Mr. Li’s signature.
Massive and Stoney retained counsel to examine Mr. Li under oath about the theft. Li and his attorney appeared at Massive’s lawyer’s office belligerent, demanding immediate payment of a legitimate insurance claim.
“Mr. Li is a wealthy and highly respected member of the community. This examination under oath is a waste of time and an attempt to create useless and unwarranted delays. If payment is not received immediately, Mr. Li will sue Massive and Stoney for bad faith” Len Shyster, Li’s attorney, orated.
The examination under oath was not completed. Using his testimony at the examination under oath the NICB, working with Massive and Stoney and fifteen other insurers, the California Highway Patrol, the US Customs Service and the Fraud Division of the California Department of Insurance resulted in a major arrest of 41 individuals, including Li, for insurance fraud, grand theft, and fraud against lenders. A ring of insurance criminals who made hundreds of millions of dollars from insurers across the United States was stopped because one of the criminals allowed his customs broker to record the VIN number of his automobile before it was shipped out of the US.
Li, the instigator of the fraud, testified against his coconspirators. He served six months of electronic confinement to his penthouse apartment and paid $250,000 in restitution to one insurer.
He is now living a comfortable retirement in Hong Kong.
ZALMA OPINION
The state should be proud that they took down a massive insurance fraud scheme but, because they needed him, Li retired a rich man to Hong Kong. He may regret it now that the Communist Party took over Hong Kong.
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(c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling lawyer and more than 54 years in the insurance business. He is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected].
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Who’s on First? State or Federal Court
Post 5222
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Conflict Between State & Federal Court Requires Abstention
See the video at https://lnkd.in/gtS6CpUX and at https://lnkd.in/gQEAeyHc,
Conflict Between State & Federal Court Requires Abstention
Hector David Campoverde was injured at a Brooklyn construction site in 2015. Campoverde was an employee of Vazquez Bro Restoration Inc., a subcontractor for C.C.C. Renovation Inc., which was itself a subcontractor for general contractor L&M Builders Group LLC. In Starr Indemnity & Liability Company v. Scottsdale Insurance Company, No. 24-CV-3309 (PKC) (TAM), United States District Court, E.D. New York (September 30, 2025) was asked to determine whether one or more of the involved insurers is obligated to indemnify Campoverde, and in what order Camporverde can receive indemnity, from one or more insurer.
Underlying Incident:
Campoverde sued the ...
National Flood Policy Bars Late Filed Suit
Post 5221
Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/one-year-suit-limitation-defeats-filed-two-years-zalma-esq-cfe-olr0c, see the video at and at and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
No Excuse for Late Flood Suit After Claim Denial
In Domenico D’ambrosio, Michele D’ambrosio v. American Bankers Insurance Company Of Florida, No. 2:25-cv-155-KCD-NPM, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Fort Myers Division (October 7, 2025) this is an insurance dispute stemming from Hurricane Ian. Plaintiffs Domenico and Michelle D’Ambrosio submitted a flood claim that Defendant American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida will not pay. To recover the funds allegedly owed, Plaintiffs sued for breach of contract.
Defendant’s moved to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Defendant presses one ...
ZIFL – Volume 29, Issue 21
THE SOURCE FOR THE INSURANCE FRAUD PROFESSIONAL
Post 5220
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See the video at & at https://rumble.com/v711hr0-zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-november-1-2025.html
See the full 18 page issue of ZIFL at ZIFL-11-01-2025
Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter (ZIFL) continues its 29th year of publication dedicated to those involved in reducing the effect of insurance fraud. ZIFL is published 24 times a year by ClaimSchool and is written by Barry Zalma. It is provided FREE to anyone who visits the site at http://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/
Conviction for Health Insurance Fraud Upheld
Physician Conspired with Bonavilla to Effect Health Insurance Fraud
Dennis Davin Bonavilla was involved in an insurance fraud scheme as an executive of Free Choice Healthcare. The scheme targeted indigent patients, often on ...
The Professional Claims Handler
Post 5219
Posted on October 31, 2025 by Barry Zalma
An Insurance claims professionals should be a person who:
Can read and understand the insurance policies issued by the insurer.
Understands the promises made by the policy.
Understand their obligation, as an insurer’s claims staff, to fulfill the promises made.
Are competent investigators.
Have empathy and recognize the difference between empathy and sympathy.
Understand medicine relating to traumatic injuries and are sufficiently versed in tort law to deal with lawyers as equals.
Understand how to repair damage to real and personal property and the value of the repairs or the property.
Understand how to negotiate a fair and reasonable settlement with the insured that is fair and reasonable to both the insured and the insurer.
How to Create Claims Professionals
To avoid fraudulent claims, claims of breach of contract, bad faith, punitive damages, unresolved losses, and to make a profit, insurers ...
The History Behind the Creation of a Claims Handling Expert
The Insurance Industry Needs to Implement Excellence in Claims Handling or Fail
Post 5210
This is a change from my normal blog postings. It is my attempt. in more than one post, to explain the need for professional claims representatives who comply with the basic custom and practice of the insurance industry. This statement of my philosophy on claims handling starts with my history as a claims adjuster, insurance defense and coverage lawyer and insurance claims handling expert.
My Training to be an Insurance Claims Adjuster
When I was discharged from the US Army in 1967 I was hired as an insurance adjuster trainee by a professional and well respected insurance company. The insurer took a chance on me because I had been an Army Intelligence Investigator for my three years in the military and could use that training and experience to be a basis to become a professional insurance adjuster.
I was initially sat at a desk reading a text-book on insurance ...
The History Behind the Creation of a Claims Handling Expert
The Insurance Industry Needs to Implement Excellence in Claims Handling or Fail
Post 5210
This is a change from my normal blog postings. It is my attempt. in more than one post, to explain the need for professional claims representatives who comply with the basic custom and practice of the insurance industry. This statement of my philosophy on claims handling starts with my history as a claims adjuster, insurance defense and coverage lawyer and insurance claims handling expert.
My Training to be an Insurance Claims Adjuster
When I was discharged from the US Army in 1967 I was hired as an insurance adjuster trainee by a professional and well respected insurance company. The insurer took a chance on me because I had been an Army Intelligence Investigator for my three years in the military and could use that training and experience to be a basis to become a professional insurance adjuster.
I was initially sat at a desk reading a text-book on insurance ...
