Calif. windshield repair business ordered to pay in $1.4M fraud case

Aug. 08--A Sonoma County Superior Court judge has awarded Allstate Insurance Co. and the state of California more than $1.4 million in a judgment against a local man accused of creating a fraudulent billing scheme for auto-glass and windshield replacements.

The judgment, announced Thursday by Allstate, was issued against Reshat Alkayisi on March 31 by Judge Nancy Case Shaffer. Court records alleged Alkayisi engaged in an elaborate scheme to create multiple bogus auto-glass replacement businesses, by using fake names and identities, and then deceived insurers by submitting fraudulent claims. Several of his family members had their names used without their consent or knowledge.

Investigators were able to track the source of the fraud to Alkayisi by reviewing claims payments from 2007 to 2010 that were sent to accounts opened at Exchange Bank in Rohnert Park and were controlled by him, court records show.

Investigators reviewed the serial numbers of windshield invoices and found that Alkayisi submitted claims for more expensive auto-glass replacements that did not match the cheaper after-market products that were actually installed.

Allstate charged in court that Alkayisi submitted at least 118 fraudulent claims to the company out of the 162 it examined. State law allows damages as much as $10,000 per fraudulent claim in such cases. All of Alkayisi's windshield businesses have ceased operating.

Shaffer also ordered Alkayisi to pay $168,416 in legal fees and expenses. Court records indicate Alkayisi did not have an attorney and did not fully contest an earlier default hearing.

Alkayisi could not be located for comment. He is on probation for a felony check forgery, and the judge in that criminal case has given Alkayisi permission to travel to Turkey for one month starting on Aug. 15, according to court records.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or [email protected]. On Twitter @BillSwindell.

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