Insurance Fraud by Killing Children & Attempted Killing of Wife Affirmed
Barry Zalma
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In United States Of America v. Ali F. Elmezayen, AKA Ali F. Elmeza Yen, AKA Ali Fathelelah Elmezayen, AKA Ali Fathellah Elmezayen, AKA Ali Sayed, AKA Ali Fathelehah Sayed, No. 21-50057, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (January 19, 2023) Ali Elmezayen appealed the district court’s judgment entered upon a jury verdict that found him guilty of four counts of mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341, four counts of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1), and four counts of money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1957.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
After conviction by a jury, the district court sentenced Elmezayen to 212 years in prison. Elmezayen raised five issues on appeal that the court erred:
1 when it failed to conduct an adequate voir dire regarding prospective jurors’ experiences with autism and domestic violence,
2 when it permitted Detective Cortez to provide impermissible opinion testimony concerning witness credibility,
3 when it excluded hearsay testimony Elmezayen intended to elicit from Dr. Bruno,
4 when it admitted testimony from Sarah Wickes, and
5 when it denied a motion to continue the trial so that Elmezayen could obtain the testimony of his proffered Egyptian witnesses who had been denied visas.
Some of his arguments established error by the trial court but the errors were irrelevant in the face of overwhelming other evidence of his guilt.
VOIR DIRE
The Ninth Circuit will review a district court’s voir dire for an abuse of discretion. To date, the Ninth Circuit has expressly recognized the “strong feelings” exception only in matters involving child sexual abuse, narcotics, and the insanity defense. The district court here first informed the venire (the potential jurors) of the accusations that Elmezayen had intentionally killed his sons and had attempted to kill his wife, Ms. Diab, and then expressly questioned the venirepersons about their experiences with both autism and domestic violence.
Because the district court asked broader questions to the venirepersons which elicited the information sought by the defense, there was nothing in the record indicating that the judge’s failure to honor Elmezayen’s requests amounted to an abuse of discretion.
OPINION TESTIMONY OF DETECTIVE
Elmezayen argued that the district court should have excluded as improper opinion testimony by Detective Cortez whose statements that he was “looking for truth” and that he assessed whether a suspect was lying by assessing whether the suspect was being “evasive[],” “slouch[ing],” or “rambl[ing].”
The Ninth Circuit concluded that the district court clearly erred in overruling Elmezayen’s objection – whether the Ninth Circuit analyzed Detective Cortez’s testimony through the lens of expert opinion testimony or improper lay witness testimony concerning credibility, the failure to exclude opinion testimony was reviewed for an abuse of discretion as is a district court’s admission of lay testimony. Detective Cortez’s recitation of his observations of Elmezayen’s demeanor that Detective Cortez then implied evinced Elmezayen’s lack of credibility impermissibly allowed Detective Cortez to substitute his opinion for that of the factfinder’s. Viewed either way, Detective Cortez’s testimony was clearly inadmissible. The Ninth Circuit concluded that the district court erred in overruling a timely and proper objection.
However, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the error was harmless because properly admitted evidence elsewhere in the record constituted overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt. In particular, a police report from the accident stated that Elmezayen failed to tell the police the true number of insurance policies he held, and the admitted evidence included eight accidental death policies, including their coverage amounts, which policies covered his children.
There is also substantial evidence in the record contradicting Elmezayen’s description of the accident to the Detective because the properly admitted evidence was highly persuasive and overwhelmingly pointed to guilt, any error in admitting Detective Cortez’s testimony was harmless.
DENIAL OF CONTINUANCE
Elmezayen challenges the district court’s denial of his oral motion to continue the trial so that he could obtain the testimony of four proffered Egyptian witnesses. The Ninth Circuit concluded that the denial of a continuance was not an abuse of the court’s discretion. Elmezayen was certainly not diligent: the witnesses were Elmezayen’s family members, defense counsel was made aware of them nearly a year earlier when he began representing Elmezayen, Elmezayen had over three months to obtain visas from the date the trial was set, and Elmezayen requested the continuance a week after he knew that the visas were denied-in the middle of trial.
The delay would have inconvenienced the court and the jury given the request was made after the government had rested and because the continuance requested was indefinite, it was reasonable to conclude that Elmezayen would be unable to obtain the testimony in a timely fashion.
Although the analysis above shows that the trial was not free of error, the record contains overwhelming, untainted evidence of Elmezayen’s guilt, and thus provides more than “fair assurance that the jury was not substantially swayed by the errors” in reaching its verdict.
ZALMA OPINION
An evil man who killed his children for insurance money to defraud the insurers was able to cast some doubt on his conviction only to have the Ninth Circuit conclude that even with errors made by the trial judge the evidence of guilt was overwhelming and affirmed the conviction and sentence. He will serve as much of the 212 year sentence that will probably not expire before he does. He also proved that insurance fraud is a violent crime.
(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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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]
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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Injury at Massage Causes Suit Against Therapist
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Hiscox Insurance Company (“Hiscox”) moved the USDC to Dismiss a suit for failure to state a claim because the insured reported its claim more than 60 days after expiration of the policy.
In Mluxe Williamsburg, LLC v. Hiscox Insurance Company, Inc., et al., No. 4:25-cv-00002, United States District Court, E.D. Missouri, Eastern Division (May 22, 2025) the trial court’s judgment was affirmed.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiff, the operator of a massage spa franchise, entered into a commercial insurance agreement with Hiscox that provided liability insurance coverage from July 25, 2019, to July 25, 2020. On or about June 03, 2019, a customer alleged that one of Plaintiff’s employees engaged in tortious ...
ZIFL – Volume 29, Issue 11
The Source for the Insurance Fraud Professional
Posted on June 2, 2025 by Barry Zalma
Post 5087
See the full video at and at
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL June 1, 2025 at https://zalma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ZIFL-06-01-2025.pdf
Zalma’s Insurance Fraud Letter – June 1, 2025
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ZIFL – Volume 29, Issue 11
The Source for the Insurance Fraud Professional
Read the full article and the full issue of ZIFL June 1, 2025 at https://lnkd.in/gTWZUnnF
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 ...
No Coverage if Home Vacant for More Than 60 Days
Failure to Respond To Counterclaim is an Admission of All Allegations
Post 5085
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In Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company v. Rebecca Massey, Civil Action No. 2:25-cv-00124, United States District Court, S.D. West Virginia, Charleston Division (May 22, 2025) Defendant Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company's (“Nationwide”) motion for Default Judgment against Plaintiff Rebecca Massey (“Plaintiff”) for failure to respond to a counterclaim and because the claim was excluded by the policy.
BACKGROUND
On February 26, 2022, Plaintiff's home was destroyed by a fire. At the time of this accident, Plaintiff had a home insurance policy with Nationwide. Plaintiff reported the fire loss to Nationwide, which refused to pay for the damages under the policy because the home had been vacant for more than 60 days.
Plaintiff filed suit ...
ZIFL Volume 29, Issue 10
The Source for the Insurance Fraud Professional
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gK_P4-BK and at https://lnkd.in/g2Q7BHBu, and at https://zalma.com/blog and at https://lnkd.in/gjyMWHff.
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/ You can read the full issue of the May 15, 2025 issue at http://zalma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ZIFL-05-15-2025.pdf
This issue contains the following articles about insurance fraud:
Health Care Fraud Trial Results in Murder for Hire of Witness
To Avoid Conviction for Insurance Fraud Defendants Murder Witness
In United States of America v. Louis Age, Jr.; Stanton Guillory; Louis Age, III; Ronald Wilson, Jr., No. 22-30656, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (April 25, 2025) the Fifth Circuit dealt with the ...
Professional Health Care Services Exclusion Effective
Post 5073
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This opinion is the recommendation of a Magistrate Judge to the District Court Judge and involves Travelers Casualty Insurance Company and its duty to defend the New Mexico Bone and Joint Institute (NMBJI) and its physicians in a medical negligence lawsuit brought by Tervon Dorsey.
In Travelers Casualty Insurance Company Of America v. New Mexico Bone And Joint Institute, P.C.; American Foundation Of Lower Extremity Surgery And Research, Inc., a New Mexico Corporation; Riley Rampton, DPM; Loren K. Spencer, DPM; Tervon Dorsey, individually; Kimberly Dorsey, individually; and Kate Ferlic as Guardian Ad Litem for K.D. and J.D., minors, No. 2:24-cv-0027 MV/DLM, United States District Court, D. New Mexico (May 8, 2025) the Magistrate Judge Recommended:
Insurance Coverage Dispute:
Travelers issued a Commercial General Liability ...
A Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Story
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Posted on April 30, 2025 by Barry Zalma
"This is a Fictionalized True Crime Story of Insurance Fraud that explains why Insurance Fraud is a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” situation for Insurers. The story is designed to help everyone to Understand How Insurance Fraud in America is Costing Everyone who Buys Insurance Thousands of Dollars Every year and Why Insurance Fraud is Safer and More Profitable for the Perpetrators than any Other Crime."
Immigrant Criminals Attempt to Profit From Insurance Fraud
People who commit insurance fraud as a profession do so because it is easy. It requires no capital investment. The risk is low and the profits are high. The ease with which large amounts of money can be made from insurance fraud removes whatever moral hesitation might stop the perpetrator from committing the crime.
The temptation to do everything outside the law was the downfall of the brothers Karamazov. The brothers had escaped prison in the old Soviet Union by immigrating to the United...