Insurer Claims ‘Elaborate Scheme’ In Alleged Fake Death

An insurance company fighting the son of a Jacksonville businessman reported dead in Venezuela told a federal judge it uncovered "an orchestrated, elaborate scheme to fake ... [a] death and commit insurance fraud."

Jose Lantigua, who owned two Circle K Furniture stores, "fabricated a story of his death complete with bribes, collusive statements and forged documents," a lawyer for American General Life Insurance argued last week.

Attorney Gary Guzzi asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan to dismiss a claim by Lantigua's son, Joseph, that the insurance company had been wrong to not pay on a $2 million policy his father held.

Guzzi asked the court to make the younger Lantigua and his attorney pay American General's costs from the lawsuit as a court- imposed sanction, saying arguments that the businessman was dead were "factually baseless."

But the family's lawyer said there's no reason he or his clients should face financial penalties.

"We've reviewed it and I'm surprised that these respectable firms have filed these [claims] against us," said attorney Joshua Woolsey, who said he has talked to Lantigua's son, wife, ex-business partners, accountant and others while piecing together details about the businessman's last months.

"We are aware of no credible evidence that Jose Lantigua is alive," Woolsey said.

Lantigua, a Cuban-born former finance executive, flew to Caracas, Venezuela, around March 2013 and was reported dead from a heart attack the next month. His body was reported cremated, and the U.S. embassy in Caracas recorded him as dead.

But Guzzi's request for sanctions included depositions it said were provided by a doctor, a funeral home operator and a crematory operator who had signed records of the death and cremation without ever seeing a body.

"News of Lantigua's death has been greatly exaggerated," Guzzi wrote, saying death records "were brazenly procured by fraud."

Guzzi did not respond Friday to messages left by phone and email. An employee in his Miami law firm said it's against American General's policies to talk to reporters about an ongoing case.

This is only the latest time fraud has been claimed by someone in a court fight over Lantigua's death.

In February, Woolsey argued in state court - which was hearing a case about another company's $2 million insurance policy - that paperwork filed as evidence Venezuela had voided the death certificate was actually forged.

The judge in that case concluded in May that those papers really were forged, but couldn't tell who did it.

Woolsey said depositions had shown that the same people contracted by one investigation company were involved in collecting evidence for both cases. He said he thought the earlier forgery left those investigators with no credibility. He said his firm is still working on a response to present to Corrigan later in the month.Steve Patterson: (904) 359-4263