Local fraud case is in top five

Staff report

COLUMBUS

A Howland woman who lost her license to sell insurance in March 2010, after stealing $38,129 by filing false insurance claims, has made the Ohio Department of Insurance’s list of Top Five fraud cases of 2010.

Dawn Hakeem, 40, of Fairhill Drive Northeast, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and grand theft, both felonies, June 8, 2010, in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

She was sentenced in August to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $38,129 in restitution to State Farm Insurance for submitting numerous false claims.

The Ohio Department of Insurance conducted an investigation after State Farm’s special-investigations unit referred the case there, saying it detected false claims being filed and paid through an agency where Hakeem worked.

The Ohio Department of Insurance says Hakeem filed multiple false property-damage claims for her and her family members, with claims being for amounts under the agency threshold, typically less than $3,000.

The biggest fraud case of the year involved Dr. Stacey Royal of Perrysburg, Ohio, who billed insurance carriers in excess of $900,000 for inflated services or services that she and the Royal Treatment Urgent Care never provided.

The biggest enforcement case of the year involved Alex Kozonashvili of Cleveland, who participated in a stranger-originated life- insurance transaction, which is illegal in Ohio.

In August 2008, Kozonashvili submitted an application for $9 million in life-insurance coverage to Prudential Insurance on behalf of a 74-year-old woman from Cleveland.

Kozonashvili allegedly paid the woman $8,000 for allowing him to take out a life-insurance policy on her. In addition to misrepresenting where the woman lived, Kozonashvili stated the woman had more than $12 million in assets. She actually lived on a fixed income of less than $1,000 per month.

The Ohio Department of Insurance opened more than 160 insurance-fraud cases last year, referring 80 for prosecution, and handled more than 1,200 agent-misconduct cases, taking administrative action in 250.

Information about how to prevent and report insurance fraud is available at www.insurance.ohio.gov.