Equine Insurance Agency Owner Sentenced for $1.3M Fraud

The owner of a Rhode Island insurance agency that specialized in insuring horses was sentenced Monday to 36 months in federal prison for operating various schemes to defraud customers, insurance companies, and finance companies of approximately $1.3 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., also ordered Randall N. Levesque, 57, of Middletown, owner of Equine Insurance Services, LLC and Randall Levesque Agency, to pay $1,382,815.08 in restitution to victims.

Levesque pleaded guilty on Dec. 12 to wire fraud. Levesque admitted that he overbilled and double-billed customers when billing their credit cards for premiums due on policies, some of which the client did not request or did not agree to finance, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Levesque forged some customers’ signatures and collected premiums on insurance policies issued by at least two insurance companies but, upon receipt from customers, did not forward the payments to the carriers. He also financed premiums and received funds on behalf of customers without the customers’ consent or knowledge, and submitted financing agreements to finance companies for fictitious customers, for whom there were no policies, prosecutors said.

According to Court documents, Levesque collected but did not remit to insurance companies over $800,000 in premiums; fraudulently obtained over $500,000 in financed premiums from at least two finance companies; and charged customers’ credit cards a total of approximately $80,000 for premiums that he failed to provide to insurance companies.