Philly P.I. Lawyer Accused of 'Fagin'-Type Insurance Scam
A Philadelphia personal injury lawyer has been accused of hiring runners to find claimants willing to fake injuries, costing insurers more than $2.5 million in false claims over a 25-year period.
H. Allen Litt was charged with 73 criminal counts, including insurance fraud and conspiracy, the Legal Intelligencer reports.
Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham compared Litt to the Oliver Twist character Fagin, who relied on young recruits to steal for him.
Abraham said Litt’s formula for success involved a runner finding a hole or a crack in the sidewalk and finding someone willing to fall into it or trip over it.
“The rules were simple,” according to the allegations reported by the Philadelphia Daily News. “The holes had to be in front of well-off but not-too-big businesses. Department stores were out of the question, because they had attorneys who would fight every case.”
Litt is accused of working with about 100 runners to find claimants who staged accidents or exaggerated injuries, the legal newspaper says. The claimants would be treated by physicians selected by Litt. The medical bills would be submitted to insurers along with bogus photographs of the staged accidents, according to the indictment.
Fourteen others were also charged in the alleged scam. Ten physicians are also under investigation.
