WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A west Boca Raton man was behind bars Tuesday facing serious insurance fraud charges.
Circuit Judge Donald W. Hafele was so incensed by what he read that he increased Naser Al-Sweity’s bond during his initial appearance in West Palm Beach.
Al-Sweity, an owner/agent for Florida P&C Insurance in Boca Raton, walked into court bald and wearing a blue sweater. It was his first appearance on 23 charges he faces. The Florida Department of Financial Services Bureau of Insurance Fraud in West Palm Beach investigated.
“I’m not sure they’re high enough. On the first count, I’m raising the bail to $50,000. These are very serious charges,” Hafele said.
The original amount for the one count was $15,000. The 22 other new bail amounts range from $3,000 to $5,000.
Al-Sweity’s charges range from misappropriation of insurance funds, fraudulent use of personal identification, to an organised scheme to defraud.
His court-appointed lawyer hit back at the increase.
“The legal argument is that I don’t believe the court has the jurisdiction to touch the bail set by the duty judge, who has already determined the PC and the applicable bail amount,” the lawyer said.
The summary report states that Al-Sweity wrote 11 policies for seven people. The report says he accepted and deposited over $122,000 in premiums paid in advance and in full for each of those policies.
Now here’s where the report says he broke the law. Al-Sweity entered into financing agreements with two premium finance companies that finance life insurance policies. He allegedly did this without the consent of his clients.
The report also says that he wrote his clients’ names on the paperwork, but put his home or work address and phone number, so that his clients were never notified of late payments or policy cancellations.
But that’s not all: the report says Al-Sweity’s alleged dirty dealings cost Arthur Reyes over a million dollars in out-of-pocket expenses to repair his apartment building when Hurricane Ian destroyed it in September 2022.
Here’s what the judge told Al-Sweity:
“As far as my review here at first appearance and the nature and extent of the alleged criminal activity and the scheme that this man appears to have been involved in. I think $50,000 is fair,” Hafele said.
Al-Sweity tried to speak but was instead escorted out of the courtroom. His lawyer, however, let him know what it would cost him to get out.
“Your bail is probably close to $100,000,” he said.
His next court date has not been set.
