FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 29, 2009
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA
CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING
PHONE: (617)748-3356
E-MAIL: USAMA.MEDIA@USDOJ.GOV
NORWOOD LAWYER CHARGED IN FRAUD AND KICK-BACK SCHEME
BOSTON, MA - A Norwood-based lawyer has been charged with defrauding a major insurance company through an arrangement whereby he arranged with a company insider to bill the company for non-existent legal work and then to split the proceeds of the fraud between them. He is also charged with filing false tax returns.
Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks, Robert Malaby, Inspector In Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service and Susan Dukes, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office; announced today that JAMES CIAPCIAK, age 47, of Walpole, Massachusetts, has been charged by Information in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The charges include 5 counts of Mail Fraud and 3 counts of Filing False Tax Returns.
According to the Information CIAPCIAK was the sole shareholder of a law practice, Ciapciak & Associates, P.C., with offices in Norwood, Massachusetts. In that law practice, CIAPCIAK performed legal services for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Inc. (“Met Life”). It is alleged that beginning in 2003, CIAPCIAK and a Met Life in-house lawyer, identified only as A.P., defrauded Met Life by a variety of means. According to the Information, the fraud began with CIAPCIAK and A.P. splitting $550,000 in monies that CIAPCIAK was supposed to collect on behalf of Met Life in connection with a lawsuit. Allegedly, beginning in 2005, CIAPCIAK and A.P. arranged for CIAPCIAK to submit "retainer" invoices to Met Life, which A.P. then approved, even though CIAPCIAK never provided any services for the "retainer" payments. It is further alleged that between 2005 and 2008, the pair shared approximately $650,000 in bogus retainer payments. In addition, the Information alleges that CIAPCIAK arranged to bill Met Life for expenses associated with a Superbowl trip by A.P. The Information further charges that CIAPCIAK filed false tax returns, which failed to report most of the money CIAPCIAK had obtained by defrauding Met Life.
If convicted, CIAPCIAK faces maximum penalties of 20 years on each count of Mail Fraud and three years on each count of Filing False Tax Returns, as well as 3 years Supervised Release and fines up to $250,000 on each count in the Information.
The case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts and in cooperation with Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Walters and Paul Levenson of Loucks’ Economic Crimes Unit.
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