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TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that a Passaic County man was sentenced
to state prison today for misappropriating
more than $300,000 in insurance premiums.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, Richard Pisacane, 65, of Wayne, was
sentenced to five years in state prison
by Superior Court Judge Lourdes I. Santiago
in Hudson County. Pisacane was also ordered
to pay $300,355 in restitution to Lincoln
General Insurance Company. The sentence
was based on Pisacane’s Aug. 2 guilty
plea to second-degree misapplication of
entrusted property. The charge was contained
in a Feb. 23, 2010 Hudson County grand jury
indictment.
Pisacane was the CEO of the now-defunct
insurance brokerage firm Northern Financial
Group, Inc., which was located in Bayonne
and was an agent for Lincoln General Insurance
Company. At the guilty plea hearing, Pisacane
admitted that between Feb. 12, 2004 and
March 31, 2005, he received more than $300,000
in insurance premiums from numerous customers
who were purchasing commercial insurance,
yet he failed to the remit the premiums
to Lincoln General. Pisacane admitted that
he kept the funds for his personal use,
including paying his children’s college
tuition bills and making credit card and
car payments. An investigation determined
that Pisacane failed to remit $300,355.
Detective
Matthew Armstrong, Analysts Christina Runkle,
Paula Carter and Marie Beyer, and Deputy
Attorney General Nicole D. Rizzolo were
assigned to the investigation. Deputy Attorney
General Rizzolo represented the Office of
the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing.
The
Department of Banking and Insurance routinely
assists the Office of the Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor with the investigation and prosecution
of licensed insurance agents. This assistance
enables the state to coordinate criminal
investigations and prosecutions with any
imposition of licensing sanctions in order
to protect the public.
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