Insurance Agent Defrauded Clients by Taking Premium Money and Keeping it for Personal Expenses
Barry Zalma
Dec 20, 2023
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Posted on December 20, 2023 by Barry Zalma
When a criminal defendant’s valid guilty plea includes a waiver of the right to appeal, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals generally enforces the waiver by dismissing any subsequent appeal that raises issues within the scope of the waiver.
However, even if an appeal waiver is valid and applicable, the Fourth Circuit will review a claim that a district court’s sentence or restitution order exceeded the court’s statutory authority. In United States Of America v. Glenda Taylor-Sanders, Nos. 21-4136, 20-4604, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit (December 12, 2023) the Defendant sought a change of the sentence and restitution order.
FACTS
From February 2017 through May 2019, Taylor-Sanders took advantage of her role as a licensed insurance agent to defraud several trucking companies and the insurance finance company BankDirect Capital Finance. She defrauded the trucking companies by misappropriating funds that the companies provided her to pay for their insurance policy premiums and BankDirect Capital Finance by obtaining loans under the guise of nonexistent insurance policies. Instead of using the funds she obtained to pay insurance policy premiums or to pay back BankDirect Capital Finance for the legitimate loans it made to the trucking companies, Taylor-Sanders spent the funds on personal expenditures including cars, football tickets, and mortgage payments.
Predictably, some of the trucking companies’ insurance policies lapsed because Taylor-Sanders did not pay the insurance premiums.
Her scheme unraveled when one trucking company, DW Express, discovered its insurance policy was canceled for nonpayment after it tried to file a claim for an April 2019 trucking accident. Taylor-Sanders signed a plea agreement, under which she agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud (Count Four). She also agreed to pay “full restitution, regardless of the resulting loss amount, to all victims directly or indirectly harmed by [her] ‘relevant conduct,’ . . . including conduct pertaining to any dismissed counts or uncharged conduct, regardless of whether such conduct constitutes an ‘offense’ …” And she “waive[d] all rights to contest the conviction and sentence in any appeal” on any grounds other than ineffective assistance of counsel or prosecutorial misconduct.
In exchange, the Government agreed to dismiss all the remaining counts against her. After this colloquy, the magistrate judge found that Taylor-Sanders’s plea was knowing and voluntary and that Taylor-Sanders understood the charges and potential penalties and consequences of her plea.
Four months later Taylor-Sanders moved to withdraw her guilty plea, asserting “she was told she had no choice but to plead guilty” and that “her plea was not knowing and voluntary because ‘she did not fully understand the interplay between what her guideline range could be versus the final sentence.'”
On March 10, 2021, the district court ordered Taylor-Sanders to pay restitution in the amounts the Government requested.
ANALYSIS
The magistrate judge conducted a proper Rule 11 colloquy. The magistrate judge confirmed that Taylor-Sanders had reviewed the charge with counsel, understood the contents and possible consequences of her plea agreement, and was voluntarily pleading guilty. When Taylor-Sanders twice expressed concerns about the plea agreement or factual basis document, the magistrate judge provided a recess for her to convene with counsel and make any necessary changes to the plea agreement before proceeding. Taylor-Sanders’s appeal waiver was valid.
The restitution order included $139,847.09 for a year of DW Express’s lost profits. Since Taylor-Sanders did not dispute that the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act permits restitution. The Fourth Circuit concluded that each of Taylor-Sanders’s claims on appeal are barred by the appeal waiver in her guilty plea. Therefore, her appeal was dismissed.
ZALMA OPINION
Fraud perpetrators have no honor. Even after obtaining a plea agreement that saved her years in prison, Taylor-Sanders took up the time of the District Court and the Fourth Circuit to hear a spurious motion to withdraw her guilty plea after knowingly entering into the plea agreement and waiving her right to appeal. She will pay restitution and spend an appropriate time in jail.
(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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In Howard I. Rosenberg; Kimberly L. Rosenberg v. Chubb Indemnity Insurance Company Howard I. Rosenberg; Kimberly L. Rosenberg; Kimberly L. Rosenberg; Howard I. Rosenberg v. Hudson Insurance Company, No. 22-3275, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit (February 11, 2025) the Third Circuit resolved whether the insurers owed a defense for murder and acts performed to hide the fact of a murder and the murder weapon.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Adam Rosenberg and Christian Moore-Rouse befriended one another while they were students at the Community College of Allegheny County. On December 21, 2019, however, while at his parents’ house, Adam shot twenty-two-year-old Christian in the back of the head with a nine-millimeter Ruger SR9C handgun. Adam then dragged...
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Washington state law allows insurers to deliver insurance notices and documents electronically if the party has affirmatively consented to that method of delivery and has not withdrawn the consent. The Plaintiffs argued that the terms and conditions statement was not “conspicuous” because it was hidden behind a hyperlink included in a single line of small text. The court found that the statement was sufficiently conspicuous as it was bolded and set off from the surrounding text in bright blue text.
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In Samuel Tourkow, by David Tourkow v. Michael Thomas Fox, and Sweet Insurance Agency, formerly known as Verbiest Insurance Agency, Inc., Third-Party Defendant-Appellee. Encompass Indemnity Company, et al, Nos. 367494, 367512, Court of Appeals of Michigan (February 12, 2025) resolved the claims.
The plaintiff, Encompass Indemnity Company, issued a no-fault insurance policy to Jon and Joyce Fox, with Michael Fox added as an additional insured. The dispute centers on whether fraud occurred in...
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In The People v. Dennis Lee Givens, B330497, California Court of Appeals, Second District, Eighth Division (February 3, 2025) Givens appealed to reverse his conviction for human trafficking and sought an order for a new trial.
FACTS
In September 2020, Givens matched with J.C. on the dating app “Tagged.” J.C., who was 20 years old at the time, had known Givens since childhood because their mothers were best friends. After matching, J.C. and Givens saw each other daily, and J.C. began working as a prostitute under Givens’s direction.
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Von Harris was convicted of bribery, forgery, and insurance fraud. He appealed his conviction and sentence. His appeal was denied, and the Court of Appeals upheld the conviction.
In State Of Ohio v. Von Harris, 2025-Ohio-279, No. 113618, Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District (January 30, 2025) the Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On January 23, 2024, the trial court sentenced Harris. The trial court sentenced Harris to six months in the county jail on Count 15; 12 months in prison on Counts 6, 8, 11, and 13; and 24 months in prison on Counts 5 and 10, with all counts running concurrent to one another for a total of 24 months in prison. The jury found Harris guilty based on his involvement in facilitating payments to an East Cleveland ...
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EXCUSABLE NEGLECT SUFFICIENT TO DISPUTE ARBITRATION LATE
In Howard Roy Housen and Valerie Housen v. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company, No. 4D2023-2720, Florida Court of Appeals, Fourth District (January 22, 2025) the Housens appealed a final judgment in their breach of contract action.
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The Housens filed an insurance claim with Universal, which was denied, leading them to file a breach of contract action. The parties agreed to non-binding arbitration which resulted in an award not
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The circuit court ...
