Miami Lakes woman accused of running fraudulent insurance testing schools
MIAMI - A Miami Lakes woman is accused cheating the state insurance licensing system with fraudulent schools that included paying other people to take exams for prospective insurance agents.
Diana Nodarse Cruz, 36, was arrested on Monday by agents with the Florida Department of Financial Services and taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
She is facing six felony charges: racketeering/conspiracy, organized crime to defraud/conspiracy, communications fraud of $300 or more, unlaw use of a communications device, unauthorized insurer, insurance agent without a license.
From 2021 to this year, Nodarse Cruz and her husband, Rainier M. Salas Sr., operated an insurance business. Salas Sr. was arrested on June 5, charged with six counts and he was released on a $2,500 bond. His next hearing date is Dec. 18.
Florida Department of Financial Services had received a complaint that multiple people subverted Florida's insurance licensing system by cheating the system that utilizes online and authorized centers.
Over 800 insurance school exams were subverted
An analysis found there were multiple inconsistencies in the examining system in February.
An internal investigation revealed that approximately 820 exams were subverted from a small subset of six computers that were not from an authorized testing center and inconsistent with a tester's standard patterns.
Licenses were suspended based on the list of registrants related to the exams.
Agents then interviewed some of the registrants. Some confessed that individuals would pay $400 to $2,500 for the license they were attempting to acquire via someone who would take the test for them, according to the arrest report.
The situation was linked to the same facility in Miami.
Nodarse Cruz and Salas Sr. "ran an illicit enterprise" through D&R Financial, D&R Academy and D&R insurance" at 6405 NW 35th St., Virginia Gardens, according to investigators. "These unlicensed and unsanctioned entities served as fraudulent insurance schools and testing centers."
They are accused of charging $400 for the Florida 2-15 life and health license and about $2,500 for the Florida 2-20 property and casualty insurance exams.
According to the scheme, investigators said they created online profile accounts with state-authorized insurance schools, paying for courses with Salas' credit cards, completing the required pre-licensing insurance hours, taking course exams and obtaining certificates of completion. Then, they allegedly set up testing accounts, scheduled the exams and ultimately took the exams for these individuals remotely controlling the computer they used.
During a search, they found thousands of WhatsApp contacts, including communications with current and former clients who obtained the fraudulent licenses through Salas Sr. and Nordarse Cruz.
Salas Sr., because he was a convicted felon with personal injury protection (PIP) fraud conviction, was banned from obtaining a Florida insurance license. But he is accused of using the identity and license number of his son, Salas Kr., to allow him to operate illegally as an agent with Nordase Cruz.
In communications, agents found several other associates conspired to operate the illicit enterprise.
