CT man indicted for earning nearly $1M through his fraudulent prize insurance company

Hartford Courant (CT)

A Norwalk man has been charged with operating a business that sold insurance for prizes offered by individuals or organizations, through which he allegedly defrauded clients out of nearly $1 million, federal officials said.

A grand jury on Thursday returned an indictment charging Kevin Kolenda, 66, with six counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Records show that Kolenda owns and operates a company called Hole In Won, which provides insurance to people or groups offering prizes at events like golf tournaments and fishing contests, officials said.

Victims of the scheme would sign an insurance contract and pay an insurance premium before hosting a contest, like a golf tournament that promises a new car to a player who hits a hole-in-one, according to officials.

Through the contract, Kolenda and Hole in Won would promise to pay out the insurance claim for the cost of the insured prize if there was a winner at the event. If no one won the insured prize, Kolenda and the company would keep the premium, officials said.

Hole In Won used a promotional video on its website in which it claimed to be “the most successful prize insurance company in the world” and claimed that the company had “paid out 1000’s of awards” to winners throughout the world, according to officials.

The indictment alleges that Kolenda defrauded people and organizations out of nearly $1 million, including about $850,000 in insurance premiums paid under false pretenses and more than $100,000 in prize costs that the company has failed to pay.

Kolenda, the indictment alleges, used different fraud techniques to avoid paying claims, including making excuses to victims as to why they didn’t have to pay, referring them to a made-up “claims department” in Washington D.C., and threatening them with “bogus legal action and reputational harm” if they continued to ask for their money, officials said.

Kolenda would eventually stop responding to victims and refuse to pay the cost of their insure prize, leaving them to often pay for the cost of the insured prize themselves, according to officials.

Kolenda was arrested Friday morning and appeared in court in Bridgeport where he pleaded not guilty. He was released on a $50,000 bond.

Kolenda faces up to 20 years in prison per count, officials said.