Dozens of drivers drove without insurance: light punishment for an agent who cheated and forged documents

Clients paid their insurance agent and were convinced that they held valid compulsory insurance, but for years dozens of clients drove on the roads without knowing that in the event of an accident they might discover that they were left without the coverage they had paid for. Recently, the insurance agent was sentenced to nine months of community service after he admitted to forging payment confirmations and obtaining more than 225,000 shekels by fraud.

According to the verdict, the defendant worked between 2015 and 2019 as an insurance agent and sold his clients compulsory vehicle insurance certificates from the "Menora" company. He offered clients to arrange the payment for the issuance of the certificates through him, but subsequently forged the payment confirmations using fake stamps. He copied stamps confirming payment from other paid insurance certificates and pasted them onto his clients' insurance certificates.

Afterwards, he gave the clients the certificates on which the fake payment confirmation appeared, and the clients paid him for them in the belief that their insurance was valid. In practice, following these actions, they drove their vehicles without a valid compulsory insurance certificate. After the actions were discovered, the defendant rushed to settle the payment for five insurance policies. In total, he obtained 225,708 shekels by fraud.

The court determined that the actions continued for more than four years, from mid-2015 to the end of 2019, and included 112 offenses against 47 victims, some of whom were harmed more than once. In each of the cases, the defendant received amounts ranging from about 1,000 shekels to several thousand shekels, forged a stamp as if the payment had been transferred, and gave the client an invalid certificate. Although no evidence was brought that one of the clients was involved in an accident and was denied compensation due to the actions, Judge Gil Gabay determined that they placed the clients at real risk had an insurance event occurred.

The prosecution requested to sentence him to between 18 and 36 months of imprisonment. According to its claim, these are offenses committed over four years, including forgery and prior planning, and placed clients in a situation where they drove without valid compulsory insurance. The prosecution emphasized that despite the probation service's recommendation for community service, the defendant did not undergo a rehabilitative treatment process within the framework of the case and that the hearings were postponed many times at the request of the defense to allow him to pay compensation. After he paid part of the amounts, according to the prosecutor, for a long period he paid nothing and a balance of about 50,000 shekels remained.

Alongside this, the prosecutor noted in his favor his admission, the saving of judicial time, what was stated in the probation service report, and the fact that most of the compensation money was returned. In addition to imprisonment, the prosecution requested to impose a suspended sentence, a fine, and compensation in the amount of the remaining balance to be paid.

On the other hand, his defense attorney argued that he appeared for questioning immediately and admitted to all the facts of the indictment without corrections, and that the fact that he was released to his home immediately after his questioning shows that the police did not see him as a danger to society. The defense also argued that the indictment was filed with a delay and that the actual damage was caused to the insurance company and not to the clients, none of whom asked to testify or submit a victim impact statement.

The defense attorney argued that his client actually received about 110,000 shekels net out of about 220,000 shekels, and that the 170,000 shekels that have already been returned are "clean money" and even more than the amount he actually received. It was further argued that he has already paid a heavy price following his actions, after his license as an insurance agent was revoked, and requested to settle for imprisonment to be served through community service alongside a fine to be paid gradually.

The defendant himself expressed shame and remorse in court. He said that he admitted it already in his first questioning and even told the investigator that he "finished with it". According to him, the actions took place against the background of a difficult economic situation and not in a period of prosperity, and he asked the court to take into account his clean record and his efforts to rehabilitate his life. He also claimed that many clients continued to be insured with him because, according to him, they saw his actions as a "one-time fall" and not intentional fraud.

Judge Gil Gabay emphasized in the verdict the harm caused as a result of fraud offenses not only to the direct victim but also to the relations of trust in society. He determined that the degree of harm to the protected values in this case is moderate, and noted that on one hand, these are actions that continued for more than four years, 112 offenses, 47 victims, and a sum of 225,708 shekels, and on the other hand, it was not proven that any of the clients were actually harmed as a result of an insurance event. "There is no doubt that the defendant's actions require the imposition of actual imprisonment," the judge wrote, and noted that he debated whether the imprisonment should be carried out behind bars or if it could be served through community service. Finally, he determined that the fact that none of the clients were actually harmed, because an insurance event did not occur, allows for setting a punishment at the lower end that can be served through community service.

In the end, Judge Gabay sentenced him to nine months of community service, a fine of 5,000 shekels, and additional compensation to the complainants in the amount of 50,000 shekels. The 175,000 shekels that have already been deposited in the court's treasury will be transferred to the victims according to their relative share in the damage.