San Juan, Puerto Rico – U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow of District of Puerto Rico joined Attorney General William P. Barr, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, and Chief Postal Inspector Gary R. Barksdale today in announcing the largest coordinated sweep of elder fraud cases in history. This year, prosecutors charged more than 400 defendants, far surpassing the 260 defendants charged in cases as part of last year’s sweep. In each case, offenders allegedly engaged in financial schemes that targeted or largely affected seniors. In total, the charged elder fraud schemes caused alleged losses of over a billion dollars.

Six defendants were charged in the District of Puerto Rico as part of the nationwide elder fraud sweep. In a 35-count indictment defendants Luz M. Santiago-Torres, Jimmy E. Santiago-Burgos, Félix Rosa-Rosa, José Rivera-Esparra, and Ulises Feliciano-Caraballo were charged with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, six counts of aggravated identity theft, and seven counts of money laundering. Twelve of the victims of this scheme were seniors. In a separate three-count indictment, Johana Torres-Figueroa was charged with fraud in connection with a major disaster or emergency benefits, making false statements to an agency of the United States, and aggravated identity theft of an unsuspected elder victim. Both cases are ongoing.

“Americans are fed up with the constant barrage of scams that maliciously target the elderly and other vulnerable citizens,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “This year, the Department of Justice prosecuted more than 400 defendants, whose schemes totaled more than a billion dollars. I want to thank the men and women of the Department’s Consumer Protection Branch, which coordinated this effort, and all those in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and Criminal Division who worked tirelessly to bring these cases. The Department is committed to stopping the full range of criminal activities that exploit America’s seniors.”

U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow stated: “Our office will not stand by as criminals attempt to fleece a very vulnerable group of our community, our senior citizens. These criminals disrupt their lives by stealing their life savings and destroying their credit through calculated and pervasive fraud schemes. Our prosecutors are coordinating with both federal and state law enforcement partners and to stop these criminals from exploiting and abusing our seniors.”

This interactive map provides information on the elder fraud cases highlighted by today’s sweep announcement. 

Elder Fraud Hotline

Attorney General Barr also announced the launch of a National Elder Fraud Hotline, which will provide services to seniors who may be victims of financial fraud. The Hotline will be staffed by experienced case managers who can provide personalized support to callers. Case managers will assist callers with reporting the suspected fraud to relevant agencies and by providing resources and referrals to other appropriate services as needed. When applicable, case managers will complete a complaint form with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) for Internet-facilitated crimes and submit a consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the caller. The Hotline’s toll free number is 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).

For the second year, the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners also took comprehensive action against the money mule network that facilitates foreign-based elder fraud. Generally, perpetrators use a “money mule” to transfer fraud proceeds from a victim to ringleaders of fraud schemes who often reside in other countries. Some of these money mules act unwittingly, and intervention can effectively end their involvement in the fraud. The FBI and the Postal Inspection Service took action against over 600 alleged money mules nationwide by conducting interviews, issuing warning letters, and bringing civil and criminal cases. Agents and prosecutors in more than 85 federal district participated in this effort to halt the money flow from victim to fraudster. These actions against money mules were in addition to the criminal and civil cases announced as part of this year’s elder fraud sweep.

These outreach efforts have helped to prevent seniors from falling prey to scams and have frustrated offenders’ efforts to obtain even more money from vulnerable elders.

The charges announced today are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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SAN JUAN, P.R. – On March 26, 2019, a Federal grand jury returned a 35-count indictment charging five individuals with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 10 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, six counts of aggravated identity theft, and seven counts of money laundering, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The FBI handled the investigation with the assistance of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Puerto Rico Police Department, pursuant to a referral from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico.   

The indictment alleges that from November 2006 through the return of the indictment, defendants Luz M. Santiago-Torres, Jimmy E. Santiago-Burgos, Félix Rosa-Rosa, José Rivera-Esparra, and Ulises Feliciano-Caraballo conspired, devised, and engaged in a scheme to defraud life insurance companies by applying for, paying for, and receiving life insurance policies for insureds without the insured’s knowledge and consent. Participants in the conspiracy and scheme to defraud submitted life insurance applications containing materially false information, misrepresentations, and forged signatures that were sent to insurers, including Triple-S, Multinational, Occidental, Americo Financial, Universal, National, Great American, and Metlife, all without the knowledge and consent of the insured listed on the life insurance application.

As a part of the conspiracy, insurance agents, including Félix Rosa-Rosa, José Rivera-Esparra, and Ulises Feliciano-Caraballo, prepared and submitted the fraudulent life insurance applications to the various insurance companies. Upon the death of the insureds, payments were then made to the listed beneficiaries, including Santigo-Torres and Santiago-Burgos.

More than 30 fraudulent insurance policy applications were identified involving over 20 different insureds. Those insureds include five individuals who are still alive with active policies in their name as of the date of the indictment, four whom died of natural causes, and four whom suffered violent deaths in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, including murder.

The four violent deaths include the shooting deaths of Daniel Santiago Ramos and Reinaldo Santiago Torres on July 1, 2011 and August 28, 2012 respectively, as well as the deaths of brothers Jose A. Torres-Cruz and Margarito Torres Cruz, who died on October 31, 2009 and June 2, 2018 respectively, when each was struck by a vehicle and killed on Road 552 in Juana Diaz. 

The total of the fraudulent insurance policies involved in the conspiracy exceeds five millions dollars. In excess of one million five hundred thousand dollars was actually paid by life insurance companies as a result of insureds’ deaths.

The co-conspirators listed the personal identification information of insureds on life insurance applications, including their name, social security number, and date of birth; listed false contact information including false residential addresses, false mailing addresses, and false telephone numbers. The false contact information provided corresponded to the addresses and contact information for individuals involved in the conspiracy and scheme to defraud. By doing so, the defendants would receive communications made via telephone and mail rather than the actual named insured.

Multiple insureds, for whom life insurance policies were obtained without their knowledge and consent, resided at and were provided elderly care at Hogar Sustituto Luz Santiago y Fernando Santiago also known as Sueño Felíz, a home for the elderly operated by defendant Santiago-Torres in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. Sueño Felíz was licensed to operate with the Puerto Rico Department of Family until the license was revoked on or about April 5, 2011.

In addition to the mail and wire fraud charges, defendants Luz M. Santiago-Torres, Félix Rosa-Rosa, and José Rivera-Esparra were charged with aggravated identity theft of insureds’ names, social security numbers, and signatures. Santiago-Torres is also facing seven counts of money laundering for making monetary transactions in excess of $10,000 with proceeds of the conspiracy and scheme to defraud, including the $30,000 purchase of a 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. All defendants are facing the forfeiture of the criminally derived proceeds, including $1,543,974.22.

“Luz M. Santiago-Torres and her coconspirators deliberately targeted senior citizens as part of a life insurance fraud scheme that affected more than 20 victims, some of whom lost their lives violently, and yet they didn’t care and collected fraudulent insurance payouts,” said Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “These charges demonstrate our firm commitment to stopping those who exploit senior citizens and other vulnerable populations.”

“The FBI appreciates the outstanding work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Office of Social Security, and remains confident that we and our partners have the capacity to address any large scale fraud scheme that threatens the public,”  said Douglas A. Leff, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI-San Juan Field Office. “As always, the sooner these frauds get reported to us, the faster we can respond and apprehend those responsible. We are available 24 hours a day at 787-754-6000 and www.tips.fbi.gov.” 

“Postal Inspectors, federal prosecutors and our law enforcement & regulatory partners have diligently worked to identify and disrupt the activities of a criminal group who stole the identities of  individuals, and obtained fraudulent life insurance policies in the names of their victims,” said Raimundo Marrero, Assistant Inspector in Charge, Newark Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “Postal Inspectors will continue to tirelessly investigate these types of financial crimes that utilize the U.S. Mail to target businesses and consumers alike.”

The case is being prosecuted by First Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Henwood and Assistant United States Attorney Seth A. Erbe. If found guilty, defendants are facing a maximum penalty of 20 years of imprisonment for each conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud count as well as a maximum 2 year term of imprisonment for each aggravated identity count and a maximum 10 years of imprisonment for each money laundering count. Indictments contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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