Four men accused of devising a rate evasion scheme in Pennsylvania that tricked insurance companies out of more than $500,000 face a host of charges, including insurance fraud.

The investigation, by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section, focused on Michael Bozzi, 47, a licensed insurance broker and former owner/operator of Bucks County Insurance in Morrisville, Pa., according to the attorney general’s office.

Bozzi, with one of his employees, Josh Green, 30, also of Morrisville, Pa., allegedly devised a scheme to obtain Pennsylvania auto insurance policies for New York City residents, using various companies including Lincoln General and American Independent Insurance to provide the coverage, prosecutors said.

Tom Corbett

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said in a statement that residents of neighboring states know they can claim residency in the state for a lower rate, “which in the end affects every Pennsylvanian’s premiums.”

Corbett said insurance companies in this case paid more than $35,000 for claims that arose out of the fraudulent policies through Bucks County Insurance and that equivalent policies in New York would have been four times as much as premiums charged for the fraudulent policies.

Bozzi and Greene allegedly conspired with two New York residents, Alex Bien-Aime, 57, and Serge Jeanty, 37, according to the attorney general’s office.

Bien-Aime advertised inexpensive automobile insurance in New York City and allegedly sold vehicles to individuals and then worked with Green and Bozzi to get insurance policies, charges in the case state.

Between January 2005 and September 2006, Green and Bozzi electronically submitted hundreds of applications for non-Pennsylvania residents to the insurance companies, featuring either a false Pennsylvania address or a Bucks County P.O. box number that allegedly belonged to Jeanty and Bien-Aime, Corbett said.

“These defendants were very shrewd in devising this scheme,” Corbett said. “The P.O. boxes in Bucks County provided a veil, which allowed them to not only avoid detection, but to deceive the insurance companies and PennDOT into providing policies and registration for New York residents.”

Corbett added that the implications of rate evasion for Pennsylvanians are “serious,” as “New York ranks ninth nationally for staged auto accidents, and in the end, you end up footing the bill for the increased costs.”

Green, Bozzi, Bien-Aime, Jeanty and Bucks County Insurance all face six counts of theft by deception, four counts of insurance fraud, two counts of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy and one count of unlawful use of a computer.