San Francisco, CA- A Phoenix woman will be serving time and paying fines after being found guilty of defrauding a health and life insurance company of almost $690,000. After making fake chiropractic claims, forty two year old Esther Obrzut is facing not only prison time and probation, but hefty restitution as well.
According to an announcement from Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, Obrzut was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for forgery, and an additional five years for fraudulent schemes and artifices. She was also ordered to pay the Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company $650,000 in restitution.
According to the prosecutors, Obrzut billed the company over a million dollars for nearly forty-five hundred chiropractic treatments for herself, her two minor children, and her husband between the months of May of 2003 and February of 2011. Although the company paid out almost $685,000, the Arizona Department of Insurance Investigators determined that the family never received those treatments.
“Medical insurance fraud is a significant crime because it drains resources that insurers need to make sure that people who are truly sick get the treatment they need,” said Attorney General Tom Horne. He added, “My office is committed to vigorous prosecution of fraud and I am very pleased to see that the perpetrator in this case will not only pay restitution, but will spend time behind bars.”
Source: thelifeinsurancegurus.com