BOCA RATON, Fla. — WPTV has brought you a series of stories about the rising costs of property insurance that many Florida residents are calling a crisis.
This has come with several arrests across the Sunshine State related to property insurance fraud — a crime that continues to grow.
At a bond hearing on Oct. 31, Naser Hasan Al-Sweity, the owner of Florida P&C Insurance in Boca Raton, was arraigned on 23 embezzlement and fraud charges.
The charges ranged from misappropriation of insurance funds to fraudulent use of personal identification and organized scheme to defraud.
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Similar charges were also brought against four Miami men who were accused of carrying out an insurance fraud scheme in September. Investigators said they attempted to defraud an elderly homeowner of $57,000 in insurance claims.
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Naser Hasan Al Sweity appeared in a Palm Beach County courtroom on Oct. 31, 2023, to face embezzlement and fraud charges.
Also, a group of four people were arrested in Tampa in December in a roofing fraud scheme.
There was also one arrest in Lee County in December in a $214,000 fraud scheme.
“How big of a problem would you say this is in Florida?” WPTV reporter Jessica Bruno asked Stacey Giulianti, the co-founder of Florida Peninsula Insurance Company in Boca Raton
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“Insurance fraud nationwide is a $300 billion a year annual problem,” Giulianti said. “That’s a huge amount of money and in Florida, it’s between $40-$50 billion.”
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Stacey Giulianti (left) explains to WPTV investigative reporter Jessica Bruno what residents can do to avoid becoming victims of insurance fraud.
Giulianti said a lot of these bad actors tend to take advantage of communities that have been affected by a natural disaster, like a hurricane.
“One of the biggest ways are out of state, unlicensed contractors and repair personnel coming in, especially after a storm, and they take money upfront to do a job, and they don’t actually do the job,” Giulianti said. “They take the money, they disappear and they’re gone.”
As we start a new year, Giulianti offered some important reminders for homeowners.
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“First of all, many insurance companies offer preferred contractors or preferred vendors and those people have been background checked, they’ve been checked out,” Giulianti said. “So if your insurance company offers something like that, utilize that service, it’s a great way to go.”
Residents can also look up the company’s licenses by going to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation website.
“Type in a name or company name and you’ll find out if they’re licensed in the state of Florida and if it’s an active license,” Giulianti said. “It’s gonna take everybody, customers, the state of Florida and the insurance companies working together to stop this type of fraud.”
The legislative session begins this week and several bills related to property insurance will be up for debate.
WPTV will be live at the state Capitol this week speaking with local lawmakers about the insurance crisis.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jimmie Williams led South Florida over West Georgia on Friday night with 14 points off of the bench in a 74-55 victory.
Williams went 6 of 10 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range) for the Bulls (2-2). Jamille Reynolds added 12 points while shooting 4 of 7 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line while he also had 11 rebounds and five blocks. Brandon Stroud had 11 points and shot 4 of 11 from the field, including 1 for 6 from 3-point range, and went 2 for 4 from the line.
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The Wolves (0-4) were led in scoring by Shelton Williams-Dryden, who finished with 20 points and eight rebounds. Kolten Griffin added 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Reynolds led his team in scoring with eight points in the first half to help put them up 37-24 at the break. South Florida extended its lead to 53-39 during the second half, fueled by a 9-0 scoring run. Williams scored a team-high 10 points in the second half.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Florida Gators can almost taste the bowl invite. Yet, with twelve quarters of football remaining in the season, the team needs to rapidly improve their pass rush. While detractors look up the fact that their 20 sacks sit in a three-way tie at 11th in the SEC, the problem goes deeper than that.
Florida tends to send the house at times, employing defensive backs into the fray, just to generate even a scintilla of pressure. Teams know what’s coming and show absolutely-zero fear. The lack of quality pass rushing up front continues to hound the Gators. With a bowl berth on the line, they need to change what doesn’t seem to work.
Shuffle The Lineup
By now, everyone knows and understands what Tyreak Sapp brings to the table, but what about the players behind him? With far fewer snaps, LJ McCray flashed upside. Why not deploy him into a defense that plays a team that does not have too much film, since he does not see the field often?
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At 6 foot 6 inches and 265 pounds, McCray possesses the arm length and strength to win on the outside, keeping clean and collapsing one side of the line. With so many athletes in the front seven, not using all of them, especially the youngest ones, does not help. Florida needs to wins now and a passive approach to pass rushing isn’t working.
Versatility and Aggression
Using an even front as a base does not hurt anyone. In fact, you can game the line of scrimmage. By using stunts and loops, offenses will struggle to quickly adjust, not knowing where the pressure begins. Zone blitzes, overloading a side, delayed blitzes all could bring a positive end result.
Basically, Florida cannot operate with the thought that if the rush doesn’t get home, the secondary gets toasted. In actuality, the secondary, to this point, performed well against the majority of their opponents. Can’t count Texas as the Longhorns slice defenses with relative ease. Florida needs to let the athletes on the team play athletically. Turn them loose upfield and see what they generate.
Overview
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The University of Florida navigated a brutal schedule with heart and a belief. Now, the pass rush needs to join the party. The Gators need to win two of their final three games. That includes a win versus either LSU or Ole Miss.
As only a 3.5-pount underdog to LSU, that doesn’t look like an impossible task. The Tigers and Rebels both love to throw the ball. As a result, a competent and consistent pass rush could shift the narrative.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Panthers were hoping to take back a win against the Devils after that 4-1 lose earlier this week.
But that was not the case — as New Jersey heads out of South Florida with back to back wins with a 6-2 victory.
Although it wasn’t the result they were looking for, the Panthers luckily have a long season ahead of them.
“Obviously we have not been happy about our last two games, especially tonight’s game. So obviously move on, learn from it and move on,” said Aleksander Barkov.
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“Like we worked for those and they got it so obviously it sucks for us but they needed it so, forget and move on I guess,” said Jesper Boqvist.
It’ll be a tough schedule ahead — as the Panthers will have back to back games against Winnipeg — and the Devils and Florida will have one more game in the regular season, but not till Jan. 14.
So hopefully then the Panthers will get that much needed payback.
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