Jul. 14—CONCORD — State investigators have referred a record 22 cases of suspected insurance fraud for prosecution by state and federal authorities over the past year, according to state officials.
Insurance Commissioner Christopher Nicolopoulos said these cases, representing nearly $283,000 in fraudulent claims, are expected to produce individual indictments in the coming months.
"Our record of prosecutions shows that New Hampshire has zero tolerance for insurance fraud," Nicopoulos said.
Brendhan Harris, fraud investigator in charge at the Insurance Department, said the state prosecutes any fraud over $1,000 as a felony.
"With the rising costs of automobile repairs, for example, the threshold for a felony insurance fraud charge is very low," he said.
This latest report includes two workers' compensation claims, one homeowner's insurance claim, one disability insurance claim and 18 cases of suspected auto insurance fraud.
Each month, the fraud unit receives an average of 25 referrals, opening cases on about 12% of them.
During the state budget year that ended last June 30, the office received 298 fraud referrals, opened 37 cases and referred 22 for prosecution.
Harris, a retired Virginia Beach, Va., police officer, came to the Insurance Department 15 years ago to run the four-person unit.
"One hundred percent of cases we have ever submitted have been prosecuted. We don't want the reputation of a unit that goes after and charges fraud, and then ends up with cases that fail to come to pass," Harris said.
New Hampshire does not have a mandatory auto insurance requirement.
Harris said the most common form of insurance fraud here involves motorists who get insurance coverage after being in an accident and then claim they were covered.
"We solve almost 100% of those cases," Harris said.
Unlike some law enforcement agencies, the New Hampshire Insurance Department has its own subpoena power, so it can immediately ask for and quickly obtain bank or cell phone records that confirm or refute someone's claim they had insurance, Harris said.
In 2020, Harris' office broke the complicated case of Leo Rush, a 76-year-old Pelham man who pleaded guilty in federal court to creating four bogus insurance companies that sold fake surety bonds.
Over seven years, Rush got $633,000 in payments selling phony bonds valued at more than $23 million.
Harris recalls holding a document in his hands that confirmed Rush sent a fake bond to a Connecticut client from a Federal Express store on the New Hampshire border.