St. Paul Man Charged with Filing False Insurance Claim for Purportedly Stolen Art

MINNEAPOLIS—Yesterday in federal court, a 39-year-old St. Paul man was charged with filing a false insurance claim for $250,000. Jason William Sheedy was charged via an information with one count of wire fraud in connection to this incident.

The charging document states that between September 2007 and May 2011, Sheedy devised a scheme to obtain money from the AXA Art Insurance Corporation (AXA) through fraud. AXA was an insurance company that insured artwork and items of historical value. In September 2007, Sheedy insured several works of art and items of historical value with AXA. Then, on September 27, 2007, he filed an insurance claim for $274,905, reporting that some of those works of art, along with historical items, had been stolen from a moving van. On January 28, 2008, pursuant to that claim, AXA mailed Sheedy a check for $254,832. Even so, on May 24, 2011, Sheedy allegedly listed on Artbrokerage.com, an Internet website for a Nevada auction house and gallery, six of the paintings previously reported stolen.

If convicted, Sheedy faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge. This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lola Velazquez-Aguilu and Benjamin F. Langner.

A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.