December 2, 2014 — Toronto, Ontario — An Ontario Judge has handed down a strong sentence to a “directing mind of several clinics†involved in a staged collision ring. Project Whiplash, a Toronto Police Services fraud investigation, supported by Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), member insurance companies and Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), has cost the Ontario public more than $4 million in fraudulent claims.
The ring submitted auto insurance claims that they purported to have been signed or authorized by several Ontario registered health practitioners, including five chiropractors, a massage therapist and a kinesiologist, when in fact they had not been. The fraudsters also staged several auto collisions, made accident reports to police and filed false injury claims, which resulted in payments for medical treatments that were never provided and income replacement benefits based on false employment submissions.
Vishnukanthan Sabapathy of Markham, Ontario, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000 for his involvement in false billings from health clinics and for making false insurance claims. He was sentenced to two years less a day in jail and ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution for his role in the scam.
If you suspect or have information about a case of insurance fraud, contact IBC’s anonymous TIPS Line at 1-877-IBC-TIPS or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
