Haitian National Involved in Insurance Fraud Scheme is Sentenced

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Aug. 28 -- The U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Deirdre M. Daly, issued the following news release:

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JACQUES FLEURIJEUNE, 28, also known as "Magic," a citizen of Haiti last residing in New London, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to approximately five months of imprisonment, time already served, and three years of supervised release, for his involvement in an insurance fraud scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between April 2011 and April 2014, FLEURIJEUNE and others conspired to stage approximately 50 car crashes in eastern Connecticut for the purpose of defrauding automobile insurance companies and enriching themselves. A high percentage of these planned crashes were single-vehicle accidents on remote roads where there were no witnesses other than the occupants of the crashed vehicle. After each staged accident, the defendants filed fraudulent property damage and bodily injury claims with various automobile insurance companies. They then collected payouts on the fraudulent claims from the victim insurance companies. These payouts typically ranged from about $10,000 to about $30,000 per accident.

On February 13, 2017, FLEURIJEUNE pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. In pleading guilty, he admitted to his personal involvement in one staged crash that occurred on October 22, 2013, in Norwich. On that date Mackenzy Noze deliberately crashed FLEURIJEUNE's car, which was in poor condition, in part so that FLEURIJEUNE could receive money from his insurance provider to purchase a new vehicle. After Noze crashed the vehicle, FLEURIJEUNE replaced Noze in the driver's seat and falsely reported to responding law enforcement officers that FLEURIJEUNE had been driving the car at the time of the crash, and that the crash occurred because he swerved into a tree to avoid hitting a deer in the road.

After the crash, FLEURIJEUNE and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent insurance claims that misrepresented the conditions that caused the crash, who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash, and whether and to what extent the occupants of the vehicle suffered injuries as a result of the crash. As a result, FLEURIJEUNE and others collected a total of $30,534.52 from the insurer.

FLEURIJEUNE, who is detained, faces immigration proceedings.

Six other individuals involved in this scheme, including Noze, have been convicted. Noze awaits sentencing.

This matter has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Norwich Police Department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Avi Perry and Michael J. Gustafson.