U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced that Maureen Holleran, a 62-year-old resident of Buffalo, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for filing a false tax return. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas A.C. Penrose, who prosecuted the case, explained that Holleran worked remotely as a worker’s compensation claims handler for a Canadian insurance company known as Insurance Company 1 from September 2015 to October 2023. Her responsibilities included evaluating and authorizing payments for workers' compensation claims up to $2,000 without supervisor approval.
Between July 2020 and June 2023, Holleran submitted over 1,200 fraudulent claims through the company's claim processing system, each under the $2,000 limit. Payments were directed into bank accounts she controlled. She fabricated expenses like lost wages and medical reimbursements to support these false claims, totaling approximately $2,370,848.24.
Holleran also created fake email accounts resembling those of policy claimants to register on Insurance Company 1's client portal where she entered her banking details for payment redirection.
For the tax years from 2020 to 2022, Holleran embezzled about $1,592,095 from Insurance Company 1 but failed to report this income on her tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service estimates that the taxes owed for these years amount to $545,792.
The investigation leading to her sentencing was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division under Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Henry Chavis.