CONNECTICUT
Business owner, Bonny J. Hebert, of Killington, Vermont, admitted to stealing $10.3 million in premiums from Aetna Insurance Company, using the money for personal expenses and to run her business, officials said.
Hebert, 59, plead guilty Tuesday to wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from her theft of more than $10 million from Hartford-based Aetna Life Insurance Company.
Hebert plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
She is facing up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced in August.
According to court documents, these are the facts and circumstances in this case:
- Hebert was the sole owner and president of Academic Risk Resources and Insurance, LLC, a risk management and insurance brokerage agency based in Boston.
- Risk Resources and Insurance is business included brokering insurance contracts between health insurance providers and colleges or universities in order to provide health insurance for students and other individuals affiliated with the college or university.
- In July 2007, Hebert and Risk Resources began serving as the broker for a student health insurance contract entered into between Aetna and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
- The contract between Aetna and Rutgers provided that premiums would be paid by Rutgers to Resources and Insurance and then transmitted by the insurance to Aetna.
- Between 2009 and 2012, Hebert failed to give Aetna $10.3 million in premiums paid by Rutgers.
- She used the stolen funds on personal expenses and to cover the business expenses of Risk Resources Insurance, officials said.
- Hebert disclosed her fraudulent scheme to Aetna representatives in June 2012.
Hebert subsequently sold her insurance company to another business and directed that payments related to the sale be made directly to Aetna, officials stated.
Through these payments, officials said Hebert has repaid Aetna approximately $1.59 million. She also hasn’t collected more than $900,000 in commissions owed to her by Aetna.
As a result, Hebert currently owes Aetna $7.8 million in restitution, according to authorities.