A Newburyport man is facing charges for allegedly orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that extracted at least $1.5 million from a home repair insurance provider. Christian Decristofaro, 40, stands accused of using his company, NE Premier Home Services LLC, to bill for home repair jobs reported as emergencies but which, upon inspection, turned out to have never been performed, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Decristofaro, who was arrested yesterday, is to quickly make an initial appearance in federal court in Boston today at 2:30 p.m. The charge of wire fraud against him carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He is alleged to have caused NE Premier to join as a contractor with the unnamed insurance provider and then to enroll homeowners, most unaware of it, in insurance plans using false or stolen identities. These homeowners were then said to have emergencies requiring repairs, and NE Premier was assigned to handle these non-existent jobs.
Federal authorities state that through this scheme, the insurance provider was billed for services that were never rendered. "The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, restitution and forfeiture," notes the U.S. Attorney's Office press release. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Boston Division, Jodi Cohen announced the arrest, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan C. Cleary and Leslie A. Wright managing the prosecution.
The charges laid before Decristofaro are presently allegations, and he remains innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
