Man Pleads Guilty To False $250K Art Insurance Claim
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A St. Paul man pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to filing a false insurance claim for $250,000 worth of art.
Jason William Sheedy, 39, was charged via an information with one count of wire fraud in connection to the incident.
In his plea agreement, Sheedy admitted that between September 2007 and December 2011, he devised a scheme to obtain money from the AXA Art Insurance Corporation through fraud. AXA is an insurance company that insures artwork and items of historical value. He insured several items through AXA and then filed an insurance claim for $274,905, reporting that some of his pieces had been stolen from a moving van.
AXA mailed Sheedy a check for $254,832. But then Sheedy later listed six of the reportedly stolen paintings on Artbrokerage.com, an Internet website for a Nevada auction house. A search of Sheedy's residence found all but one of the art pieces stolen.
