LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Lawyer for Central District of California, Nick Hanna, issued the next information launch:
A Hawthorne man was discovered responsible by a jury in the present day of 14 federal felonies for deliberately driving his household off a wharf and into the water on the Port of Los Angeles in a scheme to gather cash on insurance coverage insurance policies he had taken out on their lives.
Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, was discovered responsible of 4 counts of mail fraud, 4 counts of wire fraud, one depend of aggravated id theft, and 5 counts of cash laundering.
"Dissatisfied together with his monetary and household state of affairs, Mr. Elmezayen fraudulently bought tens of millions of in insurance coverage on his common-law spouse and disabled younger sons, after which drove them off a pier to be able to money in," mentioned United States Lawyer Nick Hanna. "These two boys deserved a loving father; as a substitute they bought a person who put his greed and self-interest above their lives."
"A jury discovered that Mr. Elmezayen deliberately put his youngsters in a lethal state of affairs from which they may not escape," mentioned Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Cost of the FBI's Los Angeles Discipline Workplace. "Immediately's verdict delivers justice and provides a voice to the younger victims who deserved to be protected by their father, however as a substitute had been murdered so he may revenue from their deaths."
In line with the proof introduced at his nine-day trial, between July 2012 and March 2013, Elmezayen purchased from eight totally different insurance coverage corporations greater than $7 million value of life and unintentional loss of life insurance coverage insurance policies on himself and his household. Elmezayen paid premiums in extra of $6,000 per 12 months for these insurance policies - despite the fact that he reported revenue of lower than $30,000 per 12 months on his tax returns. Elmezayen started buying the insurance coverage insurance policies the identical 12 months he exited a Chapter 11 chapter continuing.
After buying the insurance policies, Elmezayen repeatedly known as the insurance coverage corporations - generally pretending to be his spouse in whose identify he had obtained among the insurance policies - to confirm that the insurance policies had been energetic and that they'd pay advantages if his spouse died in an accident. Elmezayen additionally known as at the least two of the insurance coverage corporations to substantiate they'd not examine claims made two years after the insurance policies had been bought. These phone calls had been recorded and had been performed for the jury.
On April 9, 2015, 12 days after the 2-year contestability interval on the final of his insurance coverage insurance policies expired, Elmezayen drove a automobile together with his spouse and two youngest youngsters off a wharf on the Port of Los Angeles. The location of the crash was a loading dock and worksite for business fishermen.
Elmezayen swam out the open driver's facet window of the automobile. Elmezayen's spouse, who didn't know how you can swim, escaped the car and survived when a close-by fisherman threw her a flotation machine. Two of the couple's three sons, who had been eight and 13 and who had been each severely autistic, had been strapped into the automobile and drowned. The third son was away at camp on the time and was not within the automobile on the time his father drove it into the water.
Elmezayen then collected greater than $260,000 in insurance coverage proceeds from Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance coverage and American Basic Life Insurance coverage on the unintentional loss of life insurance coverage insurance policies he had taken out on the youngsters's lives. He used a part of the insurance coverage proceeds to buy actual property in Egypt in addition to a ship.
Prosecutors argued that Elmezayen was an abusive husband and mother or father who "hatched a plan" to make all of his monetary issues disappear.
"What he did on April 9 wasn't an accident," prosecutors mentioned. "It was a very long time coming."
"It is a horrible tragedy that any father would jeopardize the lives of his household for his personal monetary achieve," acknowledged Particular Agent in Cost Ryan L. Korner of IRS Felony Investigation. "IRS-CI is proud to flex our monetary fraud experience in bringing some closure on this horrific scheme."
Along with posing as his spouse in communications with the insurance coverage corporations with out her data, following the crash, Elmezayen repeatedly lied - to regulation enforcement officers, insurance coverage corporations, and in subsequent civil litigation he filed regarding the crash - concerning the extent of the insurance coverage he had bought on his household, and particularly about whether or not he had insured his disabled youngsters's lives. The proof at trial additionally confirmed that he tried to steer witnesses to falsely inform regulation enforcement that he had given the insurance coverage proceeds to charity.
FBI brokers arrested Elmezayen in November 2018 on a legal grievance and he has been in custody ever since.
Tomorrow, United States District Decide John F. Walter will schedule a sentencing listening to, at which era Elmezayen will face a statutory most sentence of 212 years in federal jail.
This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS Felony Investigation. The Los Angeles Police Division, the Los Angeles Port Police, and the Los Angeles Metropolis Lawyer's Workplace offered substantial help on this case.
Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander C.Okay. Wyman of the Main Frauds Part and David T. Ryan of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Part are prosecuting this matter.
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