Brian Bartz Insurance Services (sole operator)
Outcome
Brian Bartz, a Rochester insurance broker, was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for submitting 105 fraudulent life insurance policy applications using clients' stolen identities without their knowledge, misappropriating client funds, and running a fraudulent investment scheme totaling more than $1 million in losses.
Details
Brian Bartz — Fraudulent Life Insurance Applications Using Stolen Client Identities, Rochester NY (2015–2020)
Outcome: Brian Bartz, 39, of Rochester, New York, was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft following a jury trial and sentenced by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa to 70 months in federal prison, for submitting 105 fraudulent life insurance policy applications using actual client identities without consent, misappropriating client funds, and operating a fraudulent investment scheme totaling approximately $1,026,668 in total losses.
Brian Bartz worked as an insurance broker at several different life insurance companies between January 2015 and January 2020. Using his access to client personal information gathered in his role as a licensed broker, Bartz submitted approximately 105 fraudulent life insurance policy applications in the names of actual individuals — using their real names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth — without those individuals' knowledge or consent.
To fund the premiums on the fraudulent policies he had created, Bartz withdrew approximately $70,579.83 from various bank accounts belonging to unsuspecting clients. The fraudulent policies were typically funded for one to four months before Bartz allowed them to lapse, suggesting the scheme was designed to generate fraudulent commissions rather than to maintain long-term policies.
In a parallel fraud, Bartz falsely represented himself to current insurance clients and others as a licensed investment advisor, inducing them to transfer investment funds to him on the premise that he would invest the money on their behalf. Bartz never invested the funds. Instead, he used them to gamble or to pay back prior investors in a Ponzi-like fashion. Bartz was not licensed to provide investment advisory services.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the New York State Department of Financial Services. The total loss amount for all schemes was approximately $1,026,668.46. The aggravated identity theft conviction (18 U.S.C. § 1028A) required a mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of two years on top of the wire fraud sentence.
Primary Source: DOJ WDNY — Former Insurance Broker Going to Prison
How Crucible Prevents This
A client consent verification workflow requiring independent confirmation before any policy application is submitted under a client's name and SSN would have blocked the unauthorized application submissions. Bank account reconciliation controls showing premium payments drawn from client accounts without client-initiated transactions would have flagged the fraudulent policy funding. Supervision of agents representing themselves as investment advisors without the required registration is a compliance gap that a WalkerNash workflow could surface by requiring documentation of all financial advisory services offered to clients.
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