Ringleader used massive auto insurance fraud to pay for his lavish lifestyle

April 20--As the flashy ringleader of a massive $23 million auto insurance fraud, Felix Filenger drove around in a Bentley, doled out kickbacks from a black briefcase stuffed with cash and lived in a $7,500-a-month oceanfront apartment.

Filenger didn't know until much later on that FBI agents were tailing him around South Florida and listening in on his phone calls with other members of the corrupt group of chiropractors, attorneys, clinic owners and tow-truck drivers he led for seven years.

Even after the FBI raided his business in 2015, putting him on notice that he was under scrutiny, federal prosecutors say Filenger kept running the fraud until he was eventually arrested in October.

And while Filenger was sporting a $64,000 rose gold Juan Pablo Montoya watch, some of his cohorts had already flipped on him and were secretly recording their conversations with accomplices.

On Thursday, Filenger was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison -- expected to be the heftiest punishment meted out in the case.

Filenger, 41, of Sunny Isles, has been locked up since he was arrested in October. He bowed his head and stayed silent Thursday in federal court in Miami while his defense attorney emphasized how contrite he is and how he's trying to make amends.

"There appears to be remorse for your actions although, in this case, the remorse was after you were caught," U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom told Filenger during the sentencing hearing.

Filenger, who emigrated from the former Soviet Union about 30 years ago and became a U.S. citizen, started up a crime ring that operated at several South Florida chiropractic clinics. In December, he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy.

Some of the phone conversations recorded on FBI wiretaps included Filenger issuing orders and advising the members of the ring of clinic owners, chiropractors and attorneys that operated mostly in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, according to prosecutors Jeffrey Kaplan and Paul Schwartz.

The fraud raked in more than $23 million from 10 auto insurance companies between 2010 and earlier this year, investigators said. Filenger will have to pay restitution as part of his punishment, but the amount owed has not been finalized.

Filenger enjoyed "a somewhat lavish lifestyle" while he was running the elaborate criminal enterprise, prosecutors said. That included renting the oceanfront property, buying expensive jewelry and investing in a North Miami bagel store, which investigators suspected he was using to conceal the source of at least some of his illegal earnings.

The judge remarked that court officials reported back to her that Filenger's "true net worth was difficult to ascertain" as the information he provided was lacking, making it hard to make an accurate assessment.

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