By Max Bowen
max.bowen@northstarreporter.com
A North Attleborough insurance broker admitted to a federal judge in Rhode Island on Thursday, June 20, that he submitted fabricated applications for end-of-life insurance policies in clients’ names and used their banking and personal information, all without their knowledge or authorization, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha.
This was done in order to obtain insurance in their names and collect over $135,000 dollars in commissions. Bruno Francis Ragusa, 53, pleaded guilty to a charge of wire fraud.
Ragusa admitted that, without his clients’ knowledge, permission or consent, he fabricated and submitted applications to purchase final expense policies in their names, using their personal identification information. Ragusa also admitted that he forged clients’ electronic signatures on the applications and directed that all policy correspondence be sent directly to him and not to the clients; that he used clients’ bank account and routing numbers to cause payment for the policies to be directly wired from their bank accounts without their knowledge; that he failed to advise his clients of the fact that policies had been issued in their names or that that payment was being drawn from their bank accounts; and that as a result of his criminal conduct, he collected $136,956.56 in sales commissions.
Ragusa is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 9. On Nov. 28, 2023, the Department of Business Regulation for the State of Rhode Island revoked Ragusa’s license to sell insurance in Rhode Island. Ragusa’s licenses to sell insurance in Massachusetts and Connecticut remain active.
