Attorneys: Risoldis weren’t racketeers

April 08--Claire Risoldi was by no stretch "the godmother of an organized-crime family," a defense attorney said Wednesday during closing arguments at the preliminary hearing in the insurance-fraud case against her and members of her family.

"This is a classic case of over-charging, overreaching," Jud Aaron said before Judge District Judge C. Robert Roth, who is to decide which charges, if any, go to trial.

Charges against the Risoldis include criminal conspiracy and operating a corrupt organization. Prosecutors allege that members of the Risoldi family collected $20 million in faulty insurance payments after their mansion caught fire three times in five years.

The notion that this could be racketeering case "is beyond a stretch," said Michael Engle, one of the six defense attorneys.

Engle argued that in six days of testimony prosecutors had failed to document any "thread of criminality."

The defense argue that the no evidence of wrongdoing in the cases of the first two fires but has acknowledged that lesser charges in the third fire, including theft, are likely headed for trial.

In reference to that third fire, in the final day of testimony on Tuesday, an insurance adjustor said that over a three-month period, Claire Risoldi's jewelry collection -- and its insurance policy -- swelled from a couple of pieces worth $100,000 to 52 items worth about $11 million.

Weeks later, the Risoldi family's Bucks County mansion caught fire for the third time in three years. The collection disappeared, and Risoldi allegedly claimed that firefighters were to blame.

The adjustor, James O'Keefe, noted the insurance policy's rapid increase and said insurer AIG would eventually deny the $11 million claim under the belief it was fraudulent.

"I don't believe [the jewelry] was in the building at the time of the fire," O'Keefe said.

Closing arguments were to resume Wednesday after a short break.

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