Prosecutors have recovered greater than $5.2 million from a former Orange County sheriff’s reserve captain who admitted he did not pay hundreds of thousands greater than that in owed employees’ compensation insurance coverage funds, the Orange County District Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned on Tuesday, March 29.
Simon Semaan is anticipated to pay an extra $8.56 million for restitution in Might, when he faces sentencing for insurance coverage fraud, in line with a District Legal professional’s Workplace assertion.
Semaan, a Los Angeles resident, was accused of defrauding the state employees’ compensation program of $17 million by underreporting his payroll and the variety of his workers to 2 totally different employees’ compensation carriers to decrease the price of his premium funds..
When the prison costs had been filed, officers described the fraud as the most important insurance-premium scheme ever prosecuted in Orange County and the second largest within the state.
Semaan ran Pacwest Safety Companies, a Costa Mesa firm that gives licensed, unarmed safety guards. The corporate had greater than 40 purchasers, prosecutors mentioned, together with Coca-Cola, the United Port of San Diego, the town of West Hollywood and the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.
Earlier this month, Semaan accepted a courtroom provide through which he's anticipated to be sentenced to as much as three hundred and sixty five days of residence confinement with digital monitoring, together with probation. He returns to courtroom on Might 13.
The courtroom additionally ordered him to make the restitution funds — $5.2 million to 1 employees’ compensation service, $8.56 million to the opposite.
State and native officers mentioned that if one firm considerably underreports payroll and workers, sincere companies doubtlessly pay the worth via increased insurance coverage premiums and will increase prices.
“The Orange County District Legal professional’s Workplace is dedicated to making sure a degree enjoying subject for enterprise homeowners,” District Legal professional Todd Spitzer mentioned in a press release. “By prosecuting unhealthy actors, we're standing up for law-abiding enterprise homeowners in order that they will proceed to stay aggressive and help their households in an sincere and upstanding means.”
Semaan turned a sheriff’s reserve officer in 1993. He was let go by the Sheriff’s Division in September, shortly earlier than his prison costs got here to gentle.
Members of the Sheriff Division’s reserve program bear background checks and serve in a volunteer capability, helping the company’s sworn ranks when wanted. They're required to place in 20 hours of volunteer time a month.