OAG: Ocean County real estate improvement company indicted for insurance fraud

The owner of a real estate improvement company in Ocean County has been charged in connection with an alleged scheme to provide false payroll information to obtain lower premiums on workers’ compensation coverage, Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck announced July 26.

Mulberry Management LLC owner Zechariah Greenspan was indicted July 7 on second-degree charges of insurance fraud, theft by deception and misconduct by a corporate official for allegedly providing false statements to New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group to get lower premiums on the workers’ compensation insurance he provides employees.

According to the indictment, Greenspan committed five or more acts of insurance fraud between July 2016 and March 2018 by submitting false documents, making false or misleading statements, and omitting material facts that misrepresented the amount of wages that Mulberry Management paid to its individual uninsured subcontractors. The indictment also said that Mulberry Management paid insured subcontractor ZG Holdings LLC, which Greenspan also owns, for subcontractor work.

Bruck’s announcement said that Greenspan committed theft by deception by obtaining workers compensation insurance at a lower premium by under reporting his payroll to individual uninsured subcontractors and by submitting false records indicating Mulberry Management had paid ZG Holdings for subcontractor work and that ZG Holdings had sufficient workers’ compensation coverage, when he knew that Mulberry Management had not paid ZG Holdings for that work and/or that ZG Holdings didn’t have workers’ compensation insurance for the work.

Greenspan is charged with misconduct by a corporate official for using Mulberry Management and/or ZG Holdings to commit the aforementioned crimes, according to the indictment.

Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $150,000.

Deputy Attorney General Melvina Fennell presented the case to the State Grand Jury for the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor under the supervision of Private Insurance Bureau Chief Cheryl Maccaroni. Investigator Thomas Andreopoulos coordinated the investigation with analysts Terry Worthington and Jordan Thompson and detective Matthew Armstrong under the supervision of Lieutenant Anne Hayes.