Claims Adjuster Pleads Guilty To Issuing $850K+ In Fake Payments To His Business

Paul Richard Massey, a resident of West Virginia, recently pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges. Massey, who worked as a claims adjuster for Allstate Insurance Company from 2015 to June 2019, confessed to issuing fraudulent payments to a business that he owns.

Massey’s job as a claims adjuster required him to investigate insurance claims, determine coverage, and issue settlement checks on behalf of Allstate to settle property damage claims. However, Massey admitted to authorizing and issuing fraudulent payments to a business called American Mitigation Services LLC, also known as AMS Cleaning, for mitigation work that had not been performed.

Massey confessed to authorizing and issuing 68 fraudulent claim payment checks totaling over $850,000 to AMS Cleaning between January 2018 and June 2019.
He created fake receipts and documents that appeared to justify the payments. Massey then used the payments deposited in AMS Cleaning’s bank account to fund his own business, Massey Powersports LLC.

Massey attempted to conceal his scheme by falsely denying his financial interest in AMS Cleaning to investigators and creating and submitting a fictitious $1 million sales contract for AMS Cleaning in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.

Massey faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine. He is also obligated to pay restitution totaling $862,871.29.