A Diamond Bar, Calif., man surrendered to authorities after allegedly cheating the state’s workers’ compensation fund out of $1.4 million and underreporting $20 million in payroll.
Joseph Baiden
Joseph Baiden, 56, turned himself over to authorities after an arrest warrant was issued for eight counts of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud against State Fund, according to California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
Following an investigation by the California Department of Insurance, Baiden also had his bank accounts frozen and authorities seized numerous properties in throughout the Los Angeles area estimated at $4 million.
The insurance department received a referral from State Fund in September 2008, alleging that Baiden, conducting business as Nurse Connection Inc., was underreporting his workers’ compensation payroll on quarterly reports.
The referral included information from State Fund on an anonymous tip that Baiden falsified payroll records as well as California and federal tax filings from 2001 to 2007, according to the department.
Baiden is alleged to have misrepresented $20 million in Nurse Connection’s payroll to conceal the actual risk to the insurance carrier, illegally reducing his workers’ compensation premiums, an act that resulted in an estimated loss of $1.4 million over seven years for State Fund.
Baiden faces a maximum of 40 years in prison as well as $3.2 million in fines. The insurance department said based on its investigation, additional charges could be filed.
“It appears that Baiden was living a lavish lifestyle due to ill-gotten gains,” said Poizner in a statement. “But through the work of our investigation and the efforts of our partners, the walls supporting his fraudulent schemes have come crashing down on him.”
California man arrested in $1.4 million workers’ compensation fraud via IFAwebnews.com .
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