Former insurance agent sentenced to prison for wire fraud scheme that defrauded clients across the U.S.

Seattle - A 58-year-old Snohomish, Washington, insurance agent was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 2 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release for wire fraud for her theft of premium payments from various insurance clients, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.  Vicki Boser, owned and operated InsuranceTek, Inc., and pocketed premium payments from insurance clients and provided fake certificates of insurance to some of those companies.  Boser used the money to support her gambling habit at area casinos.  At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart likened the conduct to a Ponzi scheme saying, “The conduct is classic in terms of embezzling from clients.”

Boser pleaded guilty to wire fraud in August 2021.  Boser founded InsuranceTek, Inc., in 2003, and specialized in assisting small businesses that work in high-risk fields in securing insurance policies to cover their business operations.  The clients included private investigators, process servers, mortgage and field service companies, and security guard companies.  Between 2014 and 2016, Boser defrauded various clients. Boser would find companies willing to insure the high-risk companies, and if necessary, find a company to finance the premium payments.  Boser was required by law to collect the premium payments from the clients and pay them over to the insurance companies.  Instead, she pocketed some of the payments, created false insurance certificates, and led the high-risk companies to believe they were insured.  In some instances, the insurance companies cancelled the insurance for lack of payment, but Boser received the notices and hid them from the insured.  The insurance premiums were tens of thousands of dollars‑‑in one case more than $100,000. 

Today, Boser was ordered to pay restitution of $273,137 to 8 different companies or insurance brokers who she defrauded.

Boser had clients across the country including many small family-owned businesses that placed a great deal of trust in Boser.  Court records detail the frauds regarding an Illinois-based property inspection business, and Ohio-, Tennessee-, and Texas-based businesses that maintain foreclosed homes.  Some of the clients only learned their insurance policies had been cancelled when they contacted the companies directly about renewing the policies.  The investigation was triggered when the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s Office received complaints from the customers.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Criminal Investigative Division of the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lyndsie Schmalz.