Minnesotan accused of faking his death for $2M claim is back in U.S., appears in court

Nov. 20--A man who authorities say faked his own death to collect on a $2 million insurance policy appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis following his arrest and extradition in Moldova.

Igor Vorotinov, 54, was indicted on Feb. 19, 2015, on a count of mail fraud. He was arrested last week in the Republic of Moldova, an Eastern European country between Romania and Ukraine

Authorities say he obtained a $2 million life insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. in 2010 and named his wife, Irina Vorotinov, as the beneficiary.

The following year, according to authorities, law enforcement in Moldova received a report of a dead body at the entrance of a central Moldovan village. Documents found on the body -- a passport, hotel cards, and contact phone numbers -- indicated the man was Igor Vorotinov. Irina Vorotinov later identified the body as her husband.

She then received a death certificate and had the body cremated.

Irina Vorotinov returned to the U.S. and submitted a death claim to the insurance company for the $2 million. A funeral was held and an urn with cremated remains was placed in a niche at Minneapolis' Lakewood Cemetery.

The insurance payout amounted to $2,048,414.09, which was sent to Irina Vorotinov's home in Maple Grove, according to authorities.

Authorities say Irina Vorotinov got a third party to open an account at a local branch of U.S. Bank and to deposit the insurance check into the account.

Then she had the third party transfer $1.5 million to another account at U.S. Bank in the name of her son, Alkon Vorotinov. A total of $1.5 million from the insurance payout was transferred to accounts in Switzerland and Moldova between March 29, 2012, and January 2015, authorities say. A computer seized by authorities contained digital pictures of Igor Vorotinov that were taken on April 19, 2013, and on May 12, 2013, indicating he was alive, authorities say.

Irina Vorotinov pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property on May 16, 2016. She was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison on Nov. 15, 2016.

Alkon Vorotinov pleaded guilty on March 24, 2015, to a felony charge. He received three years of probation and was required to pay restitution for the insurance payout.

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