Separate PIP Fraud Cases Lead to Two Miami Arrests

June 8, 2015

Two individuals from Miami who have allegedly been involved in personal injury protection (PIP) fraud schemes have recently been arrested by the Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) in separate cases.

Ariel Santana was arrested after he was revealed to be the owner of A & J Rehabilitation Center, a PIP clinic located in Miami, that illegally submitted more than $350,000 in fraudulent claims to various insurance companies, according to a press release issued by the Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud.

DIF’s investigation found that Santana hired chiropractor Peter Maffetone to operate as the clinic’s straw owner and fraudulently obtained a licensure exemption from the Agency for Health Care Administration which resulted in the clinic operating without a license for more than three years. Santana and Maffetone submitted fraudulent claims totaling nearly $367,000 to four insurance carriers: Esurance, Geico, Progressive and United Auto.

Raul Antonio Perez Payes was apprehended, in an unrelated case, after DIF detectives discovered that he organized a staged car accident in August 2012. According to investigators, Payes recruited and paid accomplices to participate in the scam, which resulted in fraudulent insurance claims totaling more than $86,000.

Both cases will be prosecuted by the office of Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.