Sixteen people, including one man from Queens, were taken into custody as part of a statewide probe into staged car accidents, which the governor claimed resulted in more than $500,000 in fraudulent insurance claims.
A joint investigation by state police and the Department of Financial Services resulted in the arrest of 16 people from eight counties who reportedly staged car accidents in order to file fraudulent insurance claims. The alleged fraudsters were not working together, but Governor Kathy Hochul said they were all symptomatic of a larger problem that was raising insurance costs for New Yorkers.
Derek Webster, 25, of Queens, was detained as part of the operation after reportedly filing a fraudulent police report claiming to have been struck by an Amazon truck. According to police, video evidence of the event plainly demonstrates that Webster fabricated the accident and then collected more than $18,000 from the insurance company.
In total, the 16 persons reportedly attempted to collect more than $500,000 in phony claims spanning more than a dozen cases in New York City, Suffolk, Onondaga, Monroe, and Erie Counties. Seven of those arrested were from the Bronx.
Hochul stated that the arrests were made possible by vehicle insurance amendments included in the 2027 budget, which made it easier for prosecutors to file criminal charges against persons who arrange accidents, whether they were driving or assisting in other ways.
“New York has a broken system,” Hochul claimed. “Broken for decades, rife with frivolous lawsuits and legal loopholes, and also making it an easy target for criminals and corrupt doctors and organized fraud crime rings that stage crashes and orchestrate brazen insurance frauds.”
Hochul stated that the 16 people arrested were only a minor part of a much broader insurance fraud industry, which can include malicious lawyers and medical experts signing off on phony claims.
According to the governor’s office, insurance companies reported 43,811 occurrences of suspected motor vehicle insurance fraud to DFS in 2025, representing an 80% rise from 2020.
“These first 16 are just the beginning,” Hochul remarked. “Anyone who believes they can get away with a crash should think again. “We’ve got you.”
Queens Assemblymember David Weprin, who also chairs the Assembly’s Committee on Insurance, complimented Hochul’s anti-fraud initiatives.
“I am deeply committed to ensuring fair, affordable rates for all insurance policyholders,” Weprin stated. “Bringing auto insurance fraudsters to justice is a critical step to boost safety on our streets and improve affordability for honest New Yorkers.”
The arrests came barely two months after Hochul and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz revealed that the ringleaders of an auto insurance fraud scam operating on the Belt Parkway would be sent to prison.
Jaime Huiracocha and Victor Murillo were jailed in August after a staged automobile crash they engineered went viral on social media, prompting the district attorney’s office to investigate. Katz claimed that investigators not only discovered more phony wrecks that the defendants had orchestrated but also revealed an extensive “ecosystem of profit” run by criminal actors pushing fraudulent insurance claims through the courts.
“There is nothing accidental about insurance fraud,” Katz said on Tuesday. “The governor has made extremely helpful changes to state law to help prosecutors investigate and arrest those who organize and arrange these dangerous and fraudulent acts.”
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