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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Write to Mr. Zalma at [email protected]; http://www.zalma.com; http://zalma.com/blog; daily articles are published at https://zalma.substack.com.

Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma; Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/

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What else you may like…
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3 hours ago
Liability Insurance only Responds to Fortuitous Acts

Insurer’s Exclusion for Claims of Assault & Battery is Effective
Post 5250

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gBzt2vw9, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gEBBE-e6 and at https://lnkd.in/gk7EcVn9, and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5250 posts.

Bar Fight With Security is an Excluded Assault & Battery

In The Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters Insurance Company v. Mainline Private Security, LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 24-3871, United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania (December 16, 2025) two violent attacks occurred in Philadelphia involving young men, Eric Pope (who died) and Rishabh Abhyankar (who suffered catastrophic injuries). Both incidents involved security guards provided by Mainline Private Security, LLC (“Mainline”) at local bars. The estates of the victims sued the attackers, the bars, and Mainline for negligence and assault/battery. The insurer exhausted a special limit and then denied defense or indemnity to Mainline Private Security.

INSURANCE COVERAGE

Mainline had purchased a commercial ...

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3 hours ago
Common Sense Ruling Protects Insured and Insurer

Marine Insurer May Dispose of Vessel to Avoid Waste
Post 5249

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gfn_UHdp, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gDWVccnr and at https://lnkd.in/gv9nsBqk, and https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.

In Western World Insurance Company v. The Estate Of Shawn Arsenault, No. 25-cv-13413-PGL, United States District Court, D. Massachusetts (December 17, 2025) the USDC was asked to resolve a marine insurance dispute after the sinking of the F/V Seahorse, a commercial fishing vessel, off Cape Cod on June 8, 2025. The vessel’s owner and operator, Shawn Arsenault, died in the incident.

Western World Insurance Company issued a hull insurance policy for the vessel. With no personal representative yet appointed for the estate, the insurer cannot determine the proper payee for the insurance proceeds.

The insurer paid for the vessel’s recovery and removal, and the vessel is now with a salvage company, incurring substantial storage fees. The insurer determined the loss is covered under the ...

00:06:27
December 24, 2025
Common Sense Ruling Protects Insured and Insurer

Marine Insurer May Dispose of Vessel to Avoid Waste
Post 5249

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gfn_UHdp, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gDWVccnr and at https://lnkd.in/gv9nsBqk, and https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.

In Western World Insurance Company v. The Estate Of Shawn Arsenault, No. 25-cv-13413-PGL, United States District Court, D. Massachusetts (December 17, 2025) the USDC was asked to resolve a marine insurance dispute after the sinking of the F/V Seahorse, a commercial fishing vessel, off Cape Cod on June 8, 2025. The vessel’s owner and operator, Shawn Arsenault, died in the incident.

Western World Insurance Company issued a hull insurance policy for the vessel. With no personal representative yet appointed for the estate, the insurer cannot determine the proper payee for the insurance proceeds.

The insurer paid for the vessel’s recovery and removal, and the vessel is now with a salvage company, incurring substantial storage fees. The insurer determined the loss is covered under the ...

00:06:27
December 15, 2025
Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter – December 15, 2025

Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter

Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/dG829BF6; see the video at https://lnkd.in/dyCggZMZ and at https://lnkd.in/d6a9QdDd.

ZIFL Volume 29, Issue 24

Subscribe to the e-mail Version of ZIFL, it’s Free! https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001Gb86hroKqEYVdo-PWnMUkcitKvwMc3HNWiyrn6jw8ERzpnmgU_oNjTrm1U1YGZ7_ay4AZ7_mCLQBKsXokYWFyD_Xo_zMFYUMovVTCgTAs7liC1eR4LsDBrk2zBNDMBPp7Bq0VeAA-SNvk6xgrgl8dNR0BjCMTm_gE7bAycDEHwRXFAoyVjSABkXPPaG2Jb3SEvkeZXRXPDs%3D

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/

Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter

Merry Christmas & Happy Hannukah

Read the following Articles from the December 15, 2025 issue:

Read the full 19 page issue of ZIFL at ...

October 31, 2025
The Zalma Philosophy of Claims Handling – Part 9

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 ...

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October 20, 2025
The Zalma Philosophy of Claims Handling – Part I

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 ...

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