A North Bergen luxury car rental company owner is heading to state prison after admitting she staged a Bentley crash and tried to collect nearly $274,000 from her insurer. Bozena A. Kolc, 47, was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay approximately $314,000 in restitution, closing out one chapter of a sprawling insurance fraud case that has entangled her husband and several other co-defendants.
Superior Court Judge James M. Doyle handed down the sentence on September 28, 2026, in Bergen County Superior Court, following Kolc's July 21, 2026 guilty plea to second-degree insurance fraud, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office. Kolc owned Imperial Exotics, a luxury car rental business operating in North Bergen. Prosecutors said she added an already-damaged 2021 Bentley Bentayga, valued at roughly $274,000, to a Geico insurance policy in January 2022, then reported it as involved in a crash the following month.
According to authorities, Kolc submitted a police report detailing the staged accident, made false statements under oath to Geico, and even provided a forged foreign bank account statement to bolster her claim. The fraudulent claim sought $273,864, though Geico did not end up paying it out. As Daily Voice reports, the investigation that unraveled the scheme was assisted by Geico and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, an example of insurer and industry investigators working alongside state prosecutors to expose the fraud.
A Wider Web of Alleged Victims
Bernard J. Cooney, identified in the case, said Kolc insured a luxury vehicle after it had already been damaged, and said the sentence holds her accountable for the conduct. But the Bentley claim was only one piece of a much larger business scheme, per the same account, one that allegedly affected ordinary luxury car owners who consigned their vehicles to Imperial Exotics and a related outfit called Plush Luxury Collection.
Reporting referencing NJ Advance Media found that Kolc and her husband promised vehicle owners a 40 percent revenue share in exchange for leasing out their high-end cars. Instead, clients reported unpaid earnings, unexpected E-ZPass charges, vehicle damage, and repossessions. The frustration reportedly grew significant enough that an Instagram account was created to help expose the scam.
Six Defendants, Very Different Outcomes
Kolc was one of six people named in a 33-count indictment handed down in December 2024 tied to Imperial Exotics and Plush Luxury Collection. The scam also involved her husband, Braden Tyson Brown, and multiple others, though the legal outcomes for each defendant have diverged sharply in the nearly two years since. Brown, Kolc's husband and co-owner of the rental business, is still awaiting trial, as is co-defendant Edwyn Macelus — both allegations remain unproven until adjudicated.
State judiciary records cited by Daily Voice show Brown previously faced 2019 Bergen County cases involving simple assault and contempt in Edgewater, along with two fugitive-from-justice cases. Co-defendant Damian Slezak pleaded guilty in April 2026 to third-degree insurance fraud and is awaiting sentencing. Everet Lake entered New Jersey's Pretrial Intervention program in January 2026 after being charged with multiple fourth-degree offenses in the indictment, according to Shore News Network. Terrance Everett, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to possession of a false government-issued identification document and was sentenced to one year of probation in May 2026.
Why Kolc Faced a Second-Degree Charge
Under New Jersey law, insurance fraud is elevated from a third-degree offense to a second-degree crime when a defendant knowingly commits five or more fraudulent acts or seeks an aggregate benefit of $1,000 or more, a threshold Kolc's alleged conduct crossed. Second-degree insurance fraud in New Jersey carries a statutory presumption of imprisonment, with sentences typically ranging from five to 10 years and fines up to $150,000. Kolc's four-year term therefore reflects a negotiated plea resolution rather than the statutory maximum.
Beyond criminal penalties, New Jersey's Insurance Fraud Prevention Act allows for civil administrative penalties of up to $5,000 for a first offense, $10,000 for a second, and $15,000 for subsequent violations, on top of court-ordered restitution. The state's Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor reported recovering more than $3 million in 2025 through False Claims Act settlements, criminal forfeitures, and restitution orders, underscoring how aggressively New Jersey has pursued fraud cases in recent years.
Part of a Broader Regional Pattern
The Kolc case fits into a wider pattern of staged-crash schemes that have drawn scrutiny across the region. Industry data compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau shows staged vehicle collisions and fraudulent crash reporting remain major auto insurance crime trends nationwide, with pre-damaged vehicles frequently added to policies to exploit coverage limits, as Hoodline previously reported. Hoodline has also covered a related case involving Brooklyn men staging highway crashes for insurance payouts, part of a broader tri-state crackdown on similar schemes.
With Kolc's sentencing behind them, prosecutors still have work ahead in the Imperial Exotics case. Brown and Macelus remain awaiting trial, and their day in court will determine how much further the fallout from the North Bergen rental scheme ultimately reaches.
