Citizen of Haiti Admits Role in Insurance Fraud Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Connecticut
13 February 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JACQUES FLEURIJEUNE, 27, also known as “Magic,” last residing in New London, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud stemming from his involvement in an insurance fraud scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between April 2011 and February 2014, FLEURIJEUNE and others conspired to stage approximately 50 car crashes in southeastern 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 approximately $10,000 to $30,000 per accident.

In pleading guilty, FLEURIJEUNE admitted his personal involvement in one staged crash that occurred on October 22, 2013, in Norwich. After another scheme participant crashed the vehicle, FLEURIJEUNE replaced the other participant 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 $31,334.52 from the insurer.

Judge Meyer scheduled sentencing for May 10, 2017, at which time FLEURIJEUNE faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. FLEURIJEUNE, a citizen of Haiti, is detained.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Norwich Police Department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, with the assistance of the Mohegan Tribal Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi M. Perry.