An insurance agent in Ashburn, VA has been sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding her client of about $182,000.
Loudoun Now reported that Semyya Cunningham, 41, was convicted by a federal jury on February 1.
Court records said Cunningham was an agent and licensed representative of Western Reserve Life Assurance of Ohio. In April 2014, she sold a life insurance policy to a close friend – identified as Victim A. The policy Cunningham sold included an accelerated death benefit option that allowed the holder to claim the proceeds before death, in the event they are diagnosed with a terminal illness.
In a cruel twist of fate, Victim A was diagnosed with a terminal illness not long after in July 2014. It was around this time that Cunningham hatched a scheme to defraud Victim A of the proceeds of the policy.
Cunningham altered the contact information on Victim A’s policy to her own information, as well as changing the beneficiaries on the policy from Victim A’s family members to friends of hers. She then submitted a claim for the accelerated death benefit without Victim A’s knowledge.
Western Reserve paid the claim, and the check was mailed to Cunningham. According to court evidence, she then transferred most of the money through several accounts in an attempt to prevent the transaction from being reversed.
