Former N.J. Agent Sentenced to 3 Years in Jail in Investment Funds Theft

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey announced that a former Morris County insurance agent was sentenced in Morris County Superior Court for reportedly stealing nearly $600,000 from annuity accounts of clients who entrusted the agent to properly invest the funds for retirement and other long-term investment goals.

According to Vaughn McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden-Brown, Joseph Binczak, 39, formerly of Morris County and currently residing in Jacksonville, Fla., was sentenced by Morris County Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto to three years in State Prison and ordered to pay $573,7000 in restitution to the victims.

Gooden Brown noted that Binczak was charged via a State Grand Jury indictment returned on Nov. 8, 2002. The indictment charged Binczak with theft by deception and falsifying records.

The investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice – Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor determined that from September, 1992 through October, 2000, Binczak was employed as the sales manager for the Ukranian National Association (UNA), a non-profit fraternal association located in Parsippany, Morris County. As UNA’s sales manager, Binczak was responsible for maintaining life insurance annuity accounts for UNA members.

In pleading guilty on Sept. 2 before Judge Ahto, Binczak reportedly admitted that from Nov. 1, 1996 through Nov. 14, 2000, to withdrawing more than $600,000 from the annuity accounts of seven UNA members, depositing the funds in his own bank accounts and using the monies for personal expenses.