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Two Worcester attorneys, partners in one of Massachusetts largest workers’ compensation law firms, were recently indicted along with five of their clients on a total of 82 counts of insurance fraud, larceny, attempted larceny, conspiracy and tax evasion.
A Worcester County Special Grand Jury, investigating widespread allegations of insurance fraud in motor vehicles and workers’ compensation claims in the Worcester area, returned the charges against Attorneys James N. Ellis, Jr., and Nicholas J. Ellis, both of Shrewsbury and partners in the law firm of Ellis & Ellis. Also indicted were former clients Harry Markarian, James C. Economou, Ronald G. D’Auteuil, David J. Formoso and Federico M. Williamson.
A sixth Ellis & Ellis client, Frank G. Harwood Jr., was indicted and pleaded innocent to charges of insurance fraud and larceny over $250.
The indictments allege that the Ellises, whose firm has more than 40 offices through the state, reaped more than $70,000 in fees by overseeing sophisticated insurance fraud schemes that resulted in more than $310,000 worth of insurance payments for the six codefendants.
Markarian, Economou and D’Auteuil were workers’ compensation clients of James Ellis, Jr., who were employed by the firm to interview potential new clients at the same time they were collecting total disability benefits from various insurers. Their employment at the firm was either totally or partially concealed from the insurers in an alleged effort to inflate their workers’ compensation claims.
In the cases of Formoso and Williamson, attorneys at Ellis &Ellis allegedly pursued simultaneous, overlapping injury claims that they knew to be fraudulent and that included the use of aliases and fake Social Security numbers.
Harwood allegedly used forged documents to make it appear that he was working several jobs at the time of his injury, which made him eligible for higher benefits.
As a result of the grand jury’s action, James Ellis, Jr., was indicted on a total of 28 criminal counts ten counts of conspiracy, six counts of insurance fraud, six counts of larceny over $250, three counts of tax evasion, two counts of motor vehicle fraud and one count of attempted larceny.
Nicholas Ellis was indicted on a total of 12 counts four counts of conspiracy, four counts of motor vehicle fraud, three counts of larceny over $250, and one count of attempted larceny.
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