Property Auctioned in Wisconsin Insurance Fraud Case

Fur coats, diamonds and Rolex watches were among hundreds of items once owned by a pair of Wausau, Wis., insurance executives that were auctioned off this week to pay for their multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.

Federal agents seized the property from homes and storage units belonging to Timothy Mathwich, 62, and David Schofield, 85. The men and Susan Brockman, 62, of Hayward, were executives at Manson Insurance and were accused of forging millions of dollars in insurance premium financing notes and selling them to River Valley Bank in Wausau between February 2008 and December 2008.

A federal judge has ordered the three to pay nearly $6.3 million in restitution, according to Daily Herald Media.

“In all, we have somewhere in the neighborhood of between 800 and 1,000 victims in this case,” said Assistant United States Attorney Grant Johnson.

A diamond ring netted $40,000 at the auction, which was held at a hotel in Wittenberg on Monday. Auctioneer Jerry Chuilli said the auction raised more than $100,000, but he declined to give a specific total.

Victims of the fraud scheme won’t see any of the proceeds from the auction until a federal judge decides whether a portion of the assets seized by federal agents belong to Mathwich’s wife.

Mary Mathwich contends she is the “co-owner” of the assets under Wisconsin marital property law and is entitled to half of the assets seized, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison.