Newark insurance agent indicted for alleged fraud

Listen to this article

An Essex County insurance agent was indicted Jan. 4 on three charges related to alleged fraudulent insurance applications submitted to illegally collect commissions.

The indictment of Jean Estil, 37, of Newark, was announced by Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP).

In the indictment handed up by a Trenton grand jury last month, Estil was charged with second-degree insurance fraud and theft by deception, third-degree attempted theft by deception and impersonation, and fourth-degree forgery.

The second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000; the third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years behind bars and a fine of up to $15,000; and the fourth-degree charges carry a sentence of up to 18 months in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

According to the attorney general’s office, the charges stem from applications submitted to four insurance companies – Columbian, Mutual of Omaha, Transamerica, and Royal Neighbors of America – between October 2019 and March 2022.

Prosecutors allege that in an effort to collect commissions, Estil fraudulently submitted applications for policies knowing they contained false information or left out material facts. They also allege that Estil forged the names of people on eight insurance applications, obtaining the personal identifying information of one individual and using it to represent himself during a call to one of the insurance companies, illegally collecting $75,000 or more in commissions from the four insurance companies.

The defense attorney for Estil was unknown at the time of this story’s publication.