MIAMI — A Davie woman who helped run the books for a yearslong homeowners insurance fraud scheme that left nearly 4,000 Florida policyholders unknowingly exposed has been sentenced to 45 months in federal prison, closing out a prosecution that convicted all five participants and recovered millions in criminal proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II sentenced Lisette Patricio, 64, after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and filing false federal income tax returns. Patricio was also ordered to forfeit $1.78 million in fraud proceeds and pay $593,033 to the IRS. The scheme generated more than $6 million in illicit proceeds.
“Nearly 4,000 Florida homeowners had their insurance policies fraudulently canceled so that these defendants could enrich themselves,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “This final sentence closes a years-long prosecution that held every participant accountable and recovered millions in criminal proceeds. Our Office will continue pursuing complex financial schemes that exploit vulnerable homeowners and threaten the integrity of our financial and insurance systems.”
According to court records, co-defendant Arturo Morales targeted financially distressed homeowners facing foreclosure or loan modification and used their identities to cancel their insurance policies without their knowledge. His sister, Darely Carballeira, supervised licensed agents who prepared false paperwork to process the unauthorized cancellations. Patricio oversaw recordkeeping and distributed fraud proceeds among herself, Morales, Carballeira and a team of cooperating agents, including Yarelis Felipe. To conceal the fraud, the conspirators falsely claimed to have obtained replacement coverage, then diverted refunded premiums into accounts controlled by Patricio and used the money to purchase low-cost surplus-lines policies that provided only limited coverage.
When homeowners questioned the cancellations, agents falsely assured them they remained fully insured or repurchased full coverage. The scheme resulted in the fraudulent cancellation of nearly 4,000 homeowners insurance policies across Florida.
“Florida homeowners deserved justice, and they now got it,” said Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker of the IRS Criminal Investigation Florida Field Office. “This case proves how effective our collaboration with state and local partners can be when financial fraud threatens our communities.”
Morales received the heaviest sentence among the five defendants at 57 months in prison. Darely Carballeira was sentenced to 51 months for bank fraud and filing a false tax return. Her co-defendant Antonio Carballeira received 24 months for filing a false federal income tax return, and Felipe received 10 months for bank fraud. IRS-CI investigated the case with assistance from the Florida Department of Financial Services. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jon Juenger and Sean Cronin prosecuted the cases, filed under case number 23-cr-20486 in the Southern District of Florida.