Bagel Fraud

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 | 0

By Julius Young
Boxer & Gerson

The continuing epidemic of employer workers' comp fraud continues.....

But now it has infected your local bagel provider? Mon dieu! as Inspector Clouseau would have said.

A purveyor of bagels in upscale San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods, Posh Bagel had previously been noted for vegan cream cheese and whitefish spread.

Now it's noted for arrests for workers' comp fraud by its owners Cheryl Ann Lee and Jeffrey Ottoveggio and its accountant/controller, Bruce William Campbell. Charged by the California Department of Insurance, they were booked into Santa Clara County jail.

The charges?

Underreporting payroll to its comp carrier and the Employment Development Department. Failure to report injuries despite the fact those injuries required medical treatment. A scheme to use Nevada business entities as a subterfuge to claim payroll for employees.

Premium losses to Applied Underwriters and First Comp Insurance are said to be close to $500,000.

As, I've noted before, "It's the Employer Fraud, Stupid."

Julius Young is a claimants' attorney for the Boxer & Gerson law firm in Oakland. This column was reprinted with his permission from his blog, http://www.workerscompzone.com