Horse-insurance fraud gets R.I. man 3 years; must pay $1.3 million

Providence Journal (RI)

March 12-- Mar. 12--PROVIDENCE -- A Middletown man who sold insurance for horses was sentenced to three years in federal prison after he admitted operating schemes that defrauded customers, insurance companies and finance companies of about $1.3 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Randall N. Levesque, 57, of Middletown, owner of Equine Insurance Services, LLC and Randall Levesque Agency, was also ordered Monday to serve to three years supervised release after completing his sentence and to pay restitution of $1,382,815.08.

Levesque pleaded guilty on Dec. 12, 2018, to wire fraud.

In pleading guilty, he admitted to that he over-billed and double-billed customers for policy premiums, some of which the client did not request or did not agree to finance, at times forging customers' signatures, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release.

Levesque also admitted to collecting premiums on insurance policies issued by at least two insurance companies but, after receiving payments from customers, he did not forward the payments to the companies, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He sometimes financed premiums and received funds on behalf of customers without the customers' consent or knowledge, the office said.

And he admitted submitting financing agreements to finance companies for fictitious customers for whom there were no policies, according to the U.S. Attorney.

According to court documents, Levesque collected but did not remit to insurance companies more than $800,000 in premiums; fraudulently obtained more than $500,000 in financed premiums from at least two finance companies; and charged customers' credit cards about $80,000 for premiums that he failed to pay to insurance companies, the U.S. Attorney said.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra R. Hebert. It was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and Rhode Island State Police.

Levesque's sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Stephen Marks, and State Police Col. James M. Manni.

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