N.Y. Charges Canadian Posed as Surplus Broker, Sold Fake Policies

A Canadian man has been extradited to the U.S. to face trial on charges that he swindled $7 million from the victims of a fraudulent commercial insurance policy scheme, Acting New York Insurance Superintendent Eric R. Dinallo announced.

Ian Stuart-Smith, 56, is now being held in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center pending trial in Manhattan Federal Court. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled in May.

According to Rosalind Thomas, an investigator with the Insurance Department’s Frauds Bureau, Stuart-Smith posed as a New York wholesale insurance broker authorized to sell insurance for various underwriters such as Lloyd’s of London. It is alleged that Stuart-Smith, who used several aliases, sold fraudulent policies to hard-to-insure bars and restaurants, including several on Long Island.

The charges allege that Stuart-Smith operated purported brokerages named Surplus Lines, Inc., Heritage, Inc. and Rupertsland Insurance Intermediaries, Ltd., located in New York and Ontario, Canada.

Earlier this month, a San Francisco man, Richard Peterson, 66, who allegedly had business ties with Stuart-Smith, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and more than $13-million in restitution and forfeitures for insurance fraud.

Source: NYSID