A Broward County insurance adjuster was arrested this month on two felony counts of unlicensed public adjusting.
Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announced the arrest of Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez, owner of Maximum Claims Recovery, Inc. Patronis, in a news release, said Gonzalez defrauded two policy holders out of $34,424. The criminal charges allege Gonzalez secured insurance adjusting contracts for adjusting and insurance appraisal services without having a Florida license to do so and then withheld money from two policyholders.
"When unlicensed public adjusters take advantage of the system, every policyholder in the state loses. Insurance fraud drives up rates and devalues the professionalism of honest public adjusters and insurance agents," Patronis said in a prepared statement. "As Florida's insurance market begins to improve little-by-little, we will continue to assure companies and policyholders that fraud will not be tolerated in our state. Kudos to my Criminal Investigations Division fraud detectives for doing the hard work to bring this fraudster to justice. Also, thanks to the Broward State Attorney's Office for prosecuting this case and protecting the rights of Florida consumers."
The cases center on instances in September and December when the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) Criminal Investigations Division (CID) that two victims alleged Gonzalez represented himself as a licensed insurance adjuster to help the victims address damage to their homes that was sustained in 2022. Gonzalez even memorialized the work in writing in two contracts.
According to the CID, Gonzalez received settlements of more than $44,000 and deposited the money in his company's account. Ultimately, though, Gonzalez did not provide the settlement money to the clients, which eventually led to the investigation and arrest after CID investigators reviewed records.
"NAPIA believes in the ethical practice of public insurance adjusting and applauds all efforts of the Florida DFS to assure that only licensed public adjusters are allowed to assist consumers who have sustained first party property loss," said Brian Goodman, general counsel for the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters.
This is not the first run-in with the law for Gonzalez. He was suspended by the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida on April 25, 2013, for failing to maintain a surety bond. Furthermore, Gonzalez was also arrested on June 19, 2023, by CID detectives in Miami-Dade County for a similar act. In that case, Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez was charged with one count of acting as a public adjuster and one count of grand theft.
He was arrested and charged at the Broward County Main Jail as he was already incarcerated for for the 2023 arrest.
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