Contractor siblings could get long fraud terms [Ventura County Star, Calif.]
July 24--Owners of a Newbury Park drywall and painting company pleaded no contest Friday to workers' compensation fraud and admitted to the special allegation that their actions caused more than $100,000 in losses, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Michael Nuciforo, 55, and his brother, James Nuciforo, 58, the owners of D&J Drywall & Painting Inc., were accused of lying to their workers' compensation insurer for nine years in order to lower their insurance premiums.
The Nuciforos face up to nine years in state prison when sentenced. They were charged with three felony counts each of workers' compensation premium fraud after a nearly yearlong investigation by the District Attorney's Office, said prosecutor Thomas Frye, of the office's workers' compensation unit.
For about nine years, the brothers garnered low workers' compensation premiums because they reported all of their workers were experienced, the prosecutor said.
Experience is one of three factors insurance companies look at when determining a company's workers' compensation premium. It is determined based on hourly wage.
"What this company did was they reported all of their employees as making over $23," Frye said. "That essentially cut all of their premiums in half."
The workers' compensation unit froze $1.5 million of the brothers' assets so the money could be used to pay fines and restitution, which is expected to exceed $500,000.
The cost of workers' compensation insurance can be significant and when the industry experiences losses, companies pass it on to businesses in the form of higher premiums, Frye said.
The Nuciforos are scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 22 in courtroom 12.
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