MINNEAPOLIS-Earlier today in federal court in St. Paul, a 39-year-old St. Paul man was sentenced for filing a false insurance claim for $250,000. United States District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson sentenced Jason William Sheedy to three years of probation on one count of wire fraud in connection to this incident. In addition, Sheedy must pay $352,539.58 in restitution and serve 500 hours of community service. He was charged on August 6, 2012, and pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, 2012.
In his plea agreement, Sheedy admitted that between September 2007 and December 2011, he devised a scheme to defraud the AXA Art Insurance Corporation (“AXA"). AXA is an insurance company that insures artwork and items of historical value.
In September of 2007, Sheedy insured several items, including artwork, with AXA. Then, on Sept. 27, 2007, he filed an insurance claim for $274,905 with the company, reporting that some of the insured pieces, including several works of art, had been stolen from a moving van. On Jan. 28, 2008, pursuant to that claim, AXA mailed Sheedy a check for $254,832. On May 24, 2011, however, Sheedy listed six of the reportedly stolen paintings on Artbrokerage.com, an Internet website for a Nevada auction house. A December 2011 search of Sheedy’s residence yielded all but one of the art pieces reportedly stolen.
Sheedy further admitted filing a false claim with the Farmer’s Insurance Company in September 2007. That claim was purportedly for stolen household items, valued at $93,302, that were, in fact, not stolen. The insurance company paid the claim on Feb. 12, 2008.
This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lola Velazquez-Aguilu and Benjamin F. Langner.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
