Tag Archives: Crime Bonds

Crime Coverage, Fidelity Bonds, Surety Bonds, Uncategorized

In a former Swing State $5.5M embezzlement case, does your crime bond cover this?

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An Indianapolis woman will learn her fate after admitting to six counts of wire fraud and money laundering in a $5.5 million embezzlement scheme.

No longer a swing state (The state typically votes Republican with an exception in 2008) Hoosiers will head to the polls as Kristi Espiritu will be headed to sentencing in U.S. District Court at 10 a.m. on Nov. 8. She worked at Network Storage Inc., a data storage company based in Indianapolis, from 2008 to 2014 as a bookkeeper.

Court records show that with access to the company’s bank accounts she used their money to pay for shopping trips to purchase luxury items such as diamonds, handbags, electronics, furnishings and travel. A common occurrence in employee theft losses. According to a plea agreement reached back in May she admitted to lying to company executives and falsifying books and payroll systems. Even the best managers,  can be over trusting and never spot check or have a system to verify the monies in their bank account to avoid crimes like this.

As a part of a plea deal she agreed to pay $5.5 million in restitution, if she can’t pay that amount before sentencing, federal officials will use asset forfeiture to recover the funds. If the company purchased a dishonesty bond to cover this crime, they would become whole and not be concerned if the employee had the monies to repay the theft.

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Espiritu could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on four wire fraud charges, and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on two money laundering charges. White collar criminals steal through position and influence and quite often get away with their crimes for many years before getting caught.

It is unsure whether Network Storage Inc. had a fidelity bond (aka Crime Bond, Dishonesty Bond) which is a form of insurance protection that covers losses incurred as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals, usually insuring a business for losses caused by dishonest acts of its employees. Learn how fidelity bonds and surety bonds from BF Bond provide your growing business with the protection you require. Visit us at BFBond.com to fill out an application or call us at 800.921.1008

 

Crime Coverage, Fidelity Bonds

I Trust My Employees, I Don’t Need Crime Insurance.

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Trust and morals are  a core element of any type of relationship—business or friendship. And no one hires, at least knowingly, a dishonest employee. Sometimes people change, however. Employees can become dishonest, albeit only a minority of them do. Employees can rationalize their theft in many ways: ‘the company won’t miss it,’ ‘they’re not paying me enough,’ or the person succumbs to a gambling or some other addiction.

Unfortunately businesses do go bankrupt because their employees’ steal large amounts of money, or smaller amounts over a period of years, or in some other way commit computer fraud or some other type of fraud. This has an impact not only on your business but also on your other employees and those who count on your services or products.

To learn more about commercial crime insurance and how to protect your business, visit us at www.BFBond.com. We’ll work with you to:

  • Assess the risk potential for external or internal criminal actions
  • Determine the precise insurance coverage you need for your business
  • Click here to learn more about Crime/Fidelity Bonds

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Crime Coverage, Fidelity Bonds

Typical Fidelity/Crime Insurance coverage highlights include:

Typical Fidelity/Crime Insurance coverage highlights include:

Comprehensive coverage for:

  • Employee theft
  • Money and securities while on premises or in transit
  • Forgery
  • Funds transfer fraud
  • Computer fraud
  • Money order and counterfeit currency fraud
  • Credit card fraud
  • Optional client coverage
  • Coverage for investigative costs for covered losses
  • Responds to Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) plan bonding requirement.
  • Broad definition of employee, including directors and officers; employees, including part-time, leased, temporary, and seasonal employees; and volunteers.
  • Worldwide coverage.

Complete the EZ application for a quick quote

 

Crime Coverage, Fidelity Bonds, Uncategorized

Why do I need Fidelity/Crime Insurance?

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Why do I need Fidelity/Crime Insurance?

Fraud and embezzlement in the workplace is on the rise, occurring in even the finest work environments.

  • 82% of workplace crime is carried out by employees
  • 1 in 4 employees has either committed or witnessed workplace fraud and abuse
  • 1 in 4 employees committing fraud against their employer has been with the company for more than 10 years
  • Only 1 in 3 of those who have witnessed a workplace crime bother to report it

These crimes can go on for years and when discovered the impact can be huge. Smaller companies are especially vulnerable to Fidelity crimes because the trust factor is increased due to the closeness of the employees.

Most business insurance policies either exclude or provide only nominal amounts of coverage for loss of money and securities as well as employee dishonesty exposures.

Employee dishonesty causes as much as 20% of the nation’s business failures.

White collar crime can have serious financial consequences, even threatening a private company’s survival. Bernard Fleischer & Sons, Inc. offers a solution to handling crime losses such as dishonesty, forgery, robbery, safe burglary, computer fraud and other criminal acts committed by employees, leased employees, volunteers or someone required to be bonded under ERISA, through a Crime Insurance Policy. For more information about Fidelity/Crime Bonds call 1.800.921.1008 or visit our website to get a free no obligation Fidelity/Crime Insurance quote.

Crime Coverage, Fidelity Bonds

Overview of crime coverages

 

Today’s business environment is constantly evolving, and executive liability and crime exposures are rapidly changing
right along with it. Making sure your client’s insurance coverage is keeping pace is now even easier with the new
enhancements:
Multitude of coverages to suit every need
Below are some of the highlights of coverages
Loss from forgery or alteration of covered

instruments (including business credit card
instruments)
• Loss of money, securities and other property
on your premises or banking premises
• Loss of money, securities and other property
while in transit
• Loss from acceptance of unpaid money orders
and counterfeit money (including coins and
travelers checks)
• Loss from computer crime (including computer

Fidelity
Includes coverage for employee theft, ERISA fidelity and
employee theft of client property for direct loss of, or
direct loss from damage to money, securities and other
property.
–
Claim example:
An employee leveraged her role as
executive director to procure payment to fraudulent
vendors and to procure gift cards and other goods for
personal benefit.
Forgery or Alteration
Includes coverage for loss sustained through forgery or
alteration of outgoing negotiable instruments made or
drawn by you, or drawn on your account(s), or made or
drawn by one acting as your agent.
–
Claim example:
A signature of another person was
fraudulently signed on a check and cashed at the
insured’s bank . An affidavit
of forgery was executed claiming that the person’s
signature that appears on the check was not placed on
the check by that person.
On Premises
Includes coverage for direct loss from damage, money or
securities located inside the premises directly caused by
theft, robbery or safe burglary.
–
Claim example:
Rent checks from eight different
residents were stolen from inside the insured’s
premises. Loss was discovered after notices were sent
out to residents advising that payments were overdue
and one of the residents advised that his check had
already been cashed.
In Transit
Includes coverage for direct loss of money or securities
directly caused by theft, disappearance, damage or
destruction while in transit outside the insured’s
premises and in the care and custody of a messenger or
armored vehicle company.
–
Claim example:
A company lost money was stolen from its messenger’s
truck while in transit.
Money Orders and Counterfeit Money
Includes coverage for direct loss caused by the insured’s
good faith acceptance of worthless money orders or
counterfeit money.
–
Claim example:
A company received a counterfeit
cashier’s check for payment of delivered equipment.

Surety Bonds

Surety Bonds

Surety Bonds
We offer a variety of surety bonds to our commercial customers, including:

  • Contract/construction surety – These include performance or payment bonds, which are required of contractors performing any project funded by federal, state or municipal entities.

  • Commercial surety – Examples of commercial surety are license, permit, probate or court bonds, which may be required if you operate under local, state or federal license.
  • Fidelity bonds – These protect employers against acts of employee dishonesty, and provide coverage above and beyond the limits of most package products. We also offer a commercial crime bond, which covers losses from burglary, robbery and depositor’s forgery