The owner of a Kenilworth insurance agency has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for swindling more than $1 million from friends, family members and others by collecting annuity premiums for policies that he never purchased.
Daniel M. Rosenbaum owned and operated Alexander & Rosenbaum Financial Group LLC, an insurance agency in Kenilworth, and beginning in 2016, Rosenbaum collected more than $1 million in annuity premiums from at least 18 clients, including friends and family members and others, for policies that he never purchased, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois
“Not only was Rosenbaum stealing his clients’ money, but he was also leaving them without the annuity coverage they expected to have,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Prashant Kolluri argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Without that coverage, a number of his clients suffered substantial financial hardship.”
Rosenbaum, 56, of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, used the money for his own benefit, including spousal and child support payments, credit card payments, vehicle and other loan payments and lavish spending at a jewelry store, said the release. It also said Rosenbaum attempted to conceal the fraud by creating fake annuity documents and providing them to his clients and that some of the phony documents contained the logos of legitimate insurance companies that Rosenbaum had cut and pasted into the documents.
In addition to the annuity fraud scheme, Rosenbaum also engaged in fraud related to the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was created by the CARES Act to cover lost revenue due to economic disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, said the release. It also said Rosenbaum filed three fraudulent PPP loan applications in his name and, unbeknownst to them, the names of two close family members, for which he was paid a total of $53,537.
Rosenbaum also fraudulently obtained $65,826 from the State of Illinois by filing two fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits in his name and, unbeknownst to her, the name of a close family member. Rosenbaum, pleaded guilty last year to a federal wire fraud charge.
U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah imposed the sentence on Feb. 13 during a hearing in federal court in Chicago. The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.
The South Chicago Heights, Ill. Police Department provided valuable assistance, the release said.
Brain L. Cox is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
