A 56-year-old has now been jailed for attempted insurance fraud after faking his own death in a boating accident. It took him three years and two months to complete 14 cases. His co-defendant wife was sentenced to two years’ probation on Wednesday.
Suspended sentences from an initial trial were also taken into account, chairman Johann Kümmel said on Wednesday. Letters would prove the defendant’s intent “to get their money from as many insurance companies as possible as quickly as possible.”
In concrete terms, the couple is accused of faking the man’s death in a boat accident on the Baltic Sea in October 2019. In this way they wanted to get about four million euros from life and accident insurance.
The woman reported her husband missing three days after the alleged boating accident. He initially hid in Hamburg and later in Schwarmstedt in Lower Saxony. However, police soon became suspicious because the boat had been tampered with, causing it to sink. For the life insurers, the death declaration was not sufficient; they also wanted a death certificate or death certificate from the local court. The money was therefore never paid out.
Discovered by police because of wedding ring
In May 2020, special police forces finally discovered the German. As the defendant hid behind boxes, his wedding ring flashed. Both the 56-year-old and his wife were charged with attempted commercial fraud and gang fraud. The two have confessed to the incident.
But the trial was no longer about the actual question of guilt. In February 2021, the Kiel Regional Court had already sentenced the couple to suspended sentences of one year and nine months or one year for attempting to defraud an accident insurance company. However, the Federal Court in Leipzig has overturned the acquittals in thirteen other cases and a new decision must now be made on the matter.
The man was sentenced to three years and two months in prison; the woman was given a two-year probation period. The decisions are legally binding.
Source: Krone
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