Auto Insurance Fraud Arrests in San Jose

08/16/96

Business Wire reported that California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush announced the arrest of five professionals for alleged involvement in an Auto insurance Fraud scheme. Authorities allege that two chiropractors, a doctor, a lawyer and an auto-body shop owner filed padded claims and billing for medical, legal and auto-repair services not rendered in a conspiracy to steal from insurers.

Kobra Ahmadifar (a.k.a., Sara Hatam), 40, of San Jose; Dematour Betoushana, 45, of San Jose; Youbert Karalian, 56, of Campbell, Calif.; Saman Taherian, 28, of San Jose; and Mohsen Toolam, 32, of San Jose were arrested. Each has been charged with insurance fraud and was held at the Santa Clara County Jail in lieu of $20,000--except for Hatam, who was held in lieu of $30,000.

The charges result from an eight-month investigation by the Department of Insurance Fraud Division and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. The State of California Bureau of Automotive Repair, the California State Automobile Association and Viking Insurance assisted with the investigation.

Investigators from the Department of Insurance posed as accident victims whose cars had been rear-ended and sought the assistance of Toolam, of Auto Tech Collision Center in San Jose. Toolam's business exaggerated the car's damages on the insurance claim and referred the two investigators to Betoushana, a chiropractor, and Taherian, a lawyer. Betoushana and Toolam instructed the investigators to fake injuries and add them to the claims form.

Betoushana made several follow-up appointments for both investigators and referred them to Taherian, the lawyer, for legal representation. Taherian advised one of the investigators that adding more severe injuries to her claim form would make her case stronger.

Betoushana's office referred one of the investigators Karalian, a medical doctor, who instructed her to report more injuries from the accident to the claim.

"This is a classic case of all of the parties who stand to gain from fraudulent insurance claims working together to inflate these claims," said Stan Voyles, deputy district attorney, Santa Clara County. "Although the dollar amount involved in the undercover operation was small, these activities over time cost rate payers millions of dollars."

"Insurance fraud costs California consumers millions of dollars each year," said Quackenbush. "Regardless of whether it's multiple members of a fraud ring or an individual committing insurance fraud, this type of activity will not be tolerated."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel