Insurance Broker Sentenced to Federal Prison for Fabricating Applications and Payment Forms for Unauthorized End-of-Life Policies in Order to Collect Commission Payments

PROVIDENCE, RI – A North Attleboro, MA, insurance broker who collected nearly $137,000 dollars in sales commissions by submitting fabricated insurance applications for end-of-life insurance policies in clients’ names without their knowledge, and used those clients’ personal and banking information to pay for those policies, was sentenced today to federal prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Bruno Francis Ragusa, 53, pleaded guilty on June 20, 2024, to a charge of wire fraud. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to a term of incarceration of eighteen months in federal prison to be followed by two years of federal supervised release.

At the time of his guilty plea, Ragusa admitted that he forged clients’ electronic signatures on more than fifty insurance policy applications and directed that all policy correspondence be sent directly to him and not to the clients.  He also admitted that he used clients’ bank account information to cause payment for the policies to be directly wired from their bank accounts without their knowledge, and that he failed to advise his clients of the fact that policies had been purchased in their names.

As a result of his criminal conduct, Ragusa’s collected $136,956.56 in insurance sales commissions that he was not entitled to receive. At the government’s request, Ragusa has been ordered by the court to pay restitution in the amount of $70,379.47 to the insurance company, representing the balance of commissions paid to Ragusa that have yet to be recouped. On learning of the fraud, the insurance company repaid individual victims whose funds were used without their permission.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Milind M. Shah.

The matter was investigated by the FBI. United States Attorney Cunha thanks the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the North Attleboro Police Department, and the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation for their assistance in the investigation.

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