Victims were sold commercial general liability insurance without having a policy in place

A Californian insurance broker has been arrested for selling fake insurance policies.

Prakash Akatrai surrendered himself at the Downey Police Station and was booked on six counts of felony grand theft by embezzlement.

Akatrai allegedly sold phony certificates of insurance.

Californian Insurance Commissioner Poizner said: ‘We cannot allow the trust between insurance brokers and consumers to be violated. These victims procured insurance to protect themselves against liability and were allegedly defrauded.’

According to investigators, Akatrai collected around $5000 from six victims for commercial general liability insurance.

The broker submitted applications for five of his victims to insurance companies and policies were issued. However, he did not send the required down payments, resulting in cancellation of all five policies.

Akatrai accepted one victim’s down payment in November 2005, but never submitted an application to any insurance company. Instead, he issued her a bogus certificate of insurance to make it appear that her business was insured. Akatrai refunded her payment in August 2006.