Zalma on Insurance
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Insurance Claims professional presents articles and videos on insurance, insurance Claims and insurance law for insurance Claims adjusters, insurance professionals and insurance lawyers who wish to improve their skills and knowledge. Presented by an internationally recognized expert and author.
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May 18, 2022
True Crime of Insurance Fraud Video Number 75

I Don’t Need Your Stinkin’ License!

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gi3WNR7z and see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gxkzvNE5 and at https://lnkd.in/gF2MRUks and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4200 posts.

Yuri Gasparov was 19 years old when he entered the United States from the old Soviet Republic of Georgia. Although still a teenager he was strong of will and body. In the old Soviet Georgia he had made his mark as a thief, extortionist and enforcer. Yuri was 13 years old when he first killed a man who refused to pay half his earnings to the group Gasparov joined when he was 11.

When the Soviet Union fell, he emigrated to the U.S. He saw the U.S., unlike the new Georgian Republic, as a place of opportunity for his criminal skills.

Gasparov arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on an immigrant’s Visa claiming to be a persecuted Russian Jew. He was unusual as an immigrant. There were gold bars weighing ten Kilograms and 30 carats of “D” to “H” color diamonds in his luggage. Yuri stepped off an Al Italia jet from the First Class Cabin wearing an English suit cut by a Saville Row tailor, a Gold Rolex President watch and Italian alligator leather shoes.

As he waited in the “Nothing to Declare” line at the Bradley International Terminal women in the line openly stared. They saw a handsome young man with long black hair, green eyes, an aquiline nose and a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard. They assumed he was an Italian Actor come to try his hand at Hollywood.

A limousine was waiting to pick him up at the curb. The chauffeur held the door for him as he entered the long, white, stretched Lincoln Town Car welcoming him to the U.S. in Russian.

Yuri Gasparov had convinced the boss in Georgia that it was necessary to use the American system to make profit and leave the violent tried and true methods of making a criminal profit perfected in the old Republic of Georgia. The American system of civil justice was open to the devious, the criminal and the unethical for instant wealth.

What he did not know, basking in all the accouterments of immediate success, that knowledge of the law or how to practice law, was irrelevant to his success. All that was required of Casparian was to hang his license on the wall and wait for the profits to roll in.

Casparian did not know — or refused to learn — that his “clients” were not injured, that they never received medical treatment and that most had never been involved in an accident. Casparian convinced himself that he had achieved the American dream and was the most successful new lawyer in the state of California.

Within weeks new clients’ cases were flowing into the Casparian law firm at three times the rate as the first year of business. The three doctors were, by their billing, treating over sixty patients a day. Medical bills were forwarded to the Casparian law firm on behalf of its clients of more than $100,000 a day.

Profits increased exponentially. Casparian, sitting in his office spent most of his time watching daytime soap operas on the office television. The secretarial staff and the staff of adjusters worked 10 hours a day negotiating hundreds of claims a day. Everyone in the Casparian law firm was happy and Gasparov had purchased, for cash, a four bedroom house in Brentwood.

The staffs of the various SIUs worked together to create a database of claims from the Casparian law firm. It found that the doctors, by their billing records, were billing for more than 80 hours of work a day. Auto accident victims, although never to the same insurer twice, were involved in more than fifteen accidents a month.

The information was taken to the Major Fraud Division of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. In a task-force with the Fraud Division, California Department of Insurance and the Los Angeles Police Department, search warrants were issued for the files of the law office and the offices of the three doctors. Records were gathered and collated. Four months later arrest warrants were issued for Casparian, the three doctors and each “adjuster” in the law firm.

Gasparov, the instigator and receiver of the profits, sold his house in Brentwood when the search warrants were issued, moved to Fresno, and started an office with a lawyer who had immigrated from Kazakstan.

Gasparov’s new law office in Fresno is a great success. His position in the criminal organization has improved and he is now only third in line behind the boss in Georgia.

Without the benefit of, education, training or a license Yuri Gasparov made more money from the practice of law in California than 99 percent of the lawyers in the state and continues to earn more than any lawyer practicing in Fresno, California.
ZALMA OPINION

The insurance industry’s need to deal fairly and in good faith with everyone presenting a claim made them vulnerable to an intelligent and immoral criminal. A group of good investigators stopped the fraud only to have the courts hand out minimal sentences and allowed the instigator of the fraud to escape and proceed with his criminal pursuits elsewhere. It is time that the courts truly punish those involved in insurance fraud.

(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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What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
September 18, 2026
Expert May Only Testify to What Experience Supports

Insurance Expert May Not Testify to Speculative and Contains Unsupported Conclusions.

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Barry Zalma

See the full video at and at https://rumble.com/v7fmifw-expert-may-only-testify-to-what-experience-supports.html

In Michele A. Over, and The Estate Of Paul R. Over v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and State Farm Fire And Casualty Company, Civil Action No. 23-cv-02243-PAB-STV, United States District Court, D. Colorado (September 14, 2026) Michele and Paul Over sued State Farm Fire and State Farm Auto over hail-damage and stolen-vehicle claims.

The operative dispute concerned State Farm Auto’s motion to exclude or limit opinions from plaintiffs’ insurance-industry expert, Aaron Castillo. Castillo.

Law

The proponent of expert testimony must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that an expert is qualified and that the opinions are helpful, sufficiently grounded, and reliably derived and applied. Experience-based opinions must explain how the...

00:03:10
September 17, 2026
Convicted on 29 Tax-Refund-Fraud Counts

150 Months in Prison for Tax Fraud
Post 4846

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Barry Zalma

See the full video at https://lnkd.in/g8rh3JBX and https://lnkd.in/gmkdy-9C, In United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, Nos. 25-10609, 25-10611, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (September 9, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit affirmed all challenged convictions, the 150-month aggregate sentence, and the challenged $4,123,474.55 restitution award.

FACTS

In United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, Nos. 25-10609, 25-10611, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (September 9, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit affirmed all challenged convictions, the 150-month aggregate sentence, and the challenged $4,123,474.55 restitution award.
FACTS

Thomas Addaquay controlled United Consolidated Accounting and Business Services (UC), nominally a check-cashing business.

The government proved a three-stage tax-refund scheme that converted the resulting refund checks into usable funds through ...

00:05:23
September 14, 2026
Court Enforces Fifth Amendment & Refuses to Compel Answers

Major Fraud Perpetrator Asserts Fifth Amendment Privilege to Avoid Prosecution

Post 5489

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Barry Zalma

Fraudster Refuses to Answer Questions About His Alleged Fraud

See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gvicAMDr and at https://lnkd.in/gvicAMDr

In Great American Insurance Co. v. Gemstone Property Management, LLC, et al., No. 23-cv-9100 (LJL), United States District Court, S.D. New York (September 8, 2026) Great American Insurance Company alleged that it was defrauded through a scheme in which Subin Associates, LLP recruited individuals to stage construction-site injuries, arranged unnecessary medical treatment and litigation funding, and pursued fraudulent personal-injury claims.

Luis Manuel Garcia Salcedo, resulted in a $6 million settlement. Non-party Jose Hernandez allegedly worked as an assistant manager at Subin, operated Hernandez Associates, and owned litigation-funding companies that shared office space with Subin and provided services to its clients.

After Great American ...

00:05:14
October 19, 2026
Plaintiff’s Reading of the Policy is Plaintiff’s Reasonable Allegations Posted on October 19, 2026 by Barry Zalma CLASS ACTION THAT STATES A SIMPLE CLEAR AND PLAUSIBLE CAUSE OF ACTION SURVIVES Post 4868 In Sheila Marino v. Farmers New World Life Insura

Plaintiff’s Reading of the Policy is Plaintiff’s Reasonable Allegations

Posted on October 19, 2026 by Barry Zalma

Post 4868

CLASS ACTION THAT STATES A SIMPLE CLEAR AND PLAUSIBLE CAUSE OF ACTION SURVIVES

In Sheila Marino v. Farmers New World Life Insurance Company, No. 2:25-cv-02200-JNW, United States District Court, W.D. Washington, Seattle (October 13, 2026) defendant Farmers New World Life Insurance Company’s (“FNWL”) moved to dismiss Plaintiff Sheila Marino’s putative class action involving flexible universal life insurance.

Marino filed a putative class action in King County Superior Court alleging: (1) breach of contract, (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and (3) violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

She pleaded two theories: an “overcharge” theory and an “underpayment of interest” theory asked the Court to take judicial notice of historical Federal Funds Effective Rates.

THE LAW

Pleading Standard.

To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a ...

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October 22, 2026
John Madden and The US Patent and Trademark Office

Blockchain Fraud Detection Loses Protection

Posted on October 22, 2026 by Barry Zalma

John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American Professional Football Coach and Sports Commentator in the National Football League Seeking Patent & Trademark Protection

BLOCKCHAIN FRAUD

Mr. Madden was more than football. He was working to establish a program called “Fraud Protection Systems, Methods, and Computer Programs for Blockchain Financial Transactions.”

In Ex parte John Madden, Appeal 2026-001497, Application 18/495,506, Technology Center 3600, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (October 14, 2026)

The Examiner rejected claims several numbered claims under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.

THE LAW

Section 101 makes patentable any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.Laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas are implicitly excluded.

THE PATENT TRIAL AND ...

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October 21, 2026
Supervisory Officials are not Individually Liable

Sovereign Immunity Defeats Suit Against Police Officers

Post 4866

Posted on October 21, 2026 by Barry Zalma

In Chad Lightfoot, et al. v. Progressive Direct Insurance Company, et al., Civil Action No. 26-434, United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana (October 9, 2026) Chad Lightfoot was involved in an Orleans Parish automobile accident in 2011 and filed claims with several insurers, including Progressive.

After a related civil dispute, Progressive counsel allegedly submitted a false affidavit stating that Lightfoot had fraudulently received a $50,000 payment. A New Orleans police detective relied on the affidavit to obtain an arrest warrant, and Louisiana State Police Lieutenant Alan Arcana allegedly reported that Lightfoot had received the payment. Lightfoot was arrested in 2015 and charged with theft, insurance fraud, and perjury.

Plaintiffs alleged that no record of the payment existed and that the criminal charges were dismissed on October 15, 2024.

Lightfoot and Geralyn Hawkins filed suit in October 2025 and ...

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