Former Allstate Employee Convicted in Florida Insurance Scam

Yarden Lee Bracero, 39, a former Allstate employee in Jacksonville was convicted for diverting claims payments for her own personal use, according to an announcement by Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.

Bracero pled guilty to one count of scheme to defraud and three counts of identity theft and was sentenced to a mandatory three years in prison and ordered to pay full restitution.

“Fraud schemes like these impact Floridians throughout the state by driving up our insurance rates,” CFO Atwater said. “I applaud our investigator and industry partners for tracking down this fraudster and bringing her to justice.”

An investigation by the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud and the Allstate internal investigation unit revealed that Bracero used her position as a benefits operation analyst to create false claim information and divert funds from individual critical illness insurance policies to her own personal bank accounts. Some of the policies included employees of Home Depot and Wal-Mart. Bracero submitted false claims on the five policies using Allstate claim forms and altered the names on medical diagnosis claim documentation from other valid Allstate policies in support of the scheme.

The charges against Bracero were prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Joe Licandro of the 4^th Judicial Circuit in Jacksonville.

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services